Fortune reporter Gregory McKenna touched on how President Donald Trump's tariffs have some people worried about an upcoming recession—and if investors really think one is coming.
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00:00If I could come up with one word, it would be tariffs.
00:03Markets are not too happy with Trump tariffs right now.
00:06They're pretty worried about what could be coming down the pipe
00:09when it comes to reciprocal tariffs
00:11that could be announced on April 2nd.
00:13And the biggest thing is that markets simply don't know
00:16what's going to happen and investors don't like that at all.
00:19The famous saying is markets hate uncertainty
00:21and uncertainty is what's sort of dominating right now.
00:24Until we get clarity around what's going to happen
00:27with tariffs and the rest of Donald Trump's economic agenda,
00:30definitely this sort of volatility
00:32is to be expected going forward.
00:34While they might expect growth to slow
00:36compared to previous years,
00:38sources I've talked to and several analysts on Wall Street
00:41aren't necessarily thinking the market
00:43will enter a recession this year.
00:44The investors, the portfolio managers,
00:46the analysts I've talked to aren't necessarily panicking.
00:49They think that this sell-off could reverse
00:51in the near future,
00:52but there's definitely still a lot of uncertainty
00:54and that's what, as the saying goes,
00:56that's what markets hate the most.
00:58When it comes to very targeted tariffs on China,
01:02like during Trump's first term,
01:03that's not necessarily a surprise,
01:06but when it comes to blanket 25% tariffs on all goods
01:10from, say, Mexico and Canada,
01:12that would be something that would deeply disrupt
01:14sort of interconnected supply chains.
01:17There seems to be some level of consensus
01:19on what certain things that tariffs could lead to.
01:21One, you're almost certain to see higher consumer prices
01:25and so that decreases the purchasing power
01:28of the consumer,
01:29whether you're going to the grocery store
01:30or somewhere else,
01:31you're probably buying a little less.
01:32As firms are looking to deploy capital
01:36and make investments,
01:37invest in infrastructure, things like that,
01:39they're not gonna do so until they really know
01:40what the picture's gonna look like.