Wall Street crumbled on Trumpcession concern; Techs also slid

·       Overall, Trump’s Sunday interview with Fox News shows Trump is quite confused and advocating for short-term pain for long-term gain

·       Trump’s tariffs and geopolitics may be causing the biggest geopolitical shift post-Cold War era and China fast becoming the global superpower

·       The US may be fast isolating itself under Trump's policy of using tariffs to resolve all economic and geopolitical issues

Wall Street Futures crumbled in the last few days on the Trump trade war narrative but were also getting some support on hopes & hypes of a delay in tariffs implementation and progress in the Ukraine and Gaza war permanent ceasefire. But Wall Street and also Main Street are quite confused about Trump’s continuous flip-flops on the implementation of tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

Wall Street was also dragged by Trump’s tech war stance amid Trump’s potential AI chip export restriction to China. Also softer US GDP growth and hotter-than-expected initial jobless claims (after mass firings of Federal employees by Trump & Musk) - dragged the market sentiment as the market is now concerned for an imminent stagflation; i.e. slowing economic activities, higher unemployment, still elevated inflation and stalled disinflation. Although the February NFP/BLS job report was mixed, Musk’s mass firing of Federal Employees came after the survey period of 12th February, and thus the March job report may be affected to some extent.

On late Friday (7th March 25), US Stocks rebounded after Fed Chair Powell sounded more dovish than expected as Powell threw some light on the ‘lower bund’; i.e. interest rate at almost Nil (0.25% crisis era REPO rate). Powell also reiterated confidence in disinflation progress while signaling no urgency to cut rates. Powell reaffirmed the Fed’s patient stance, citing a strong labor market and inflation nearing target. However, Powell pointed out Fed needs to evaluate Trump’s policy uncertainty on trade, tariffs, immigration, deportations, and also deregulations which may affect the Fed’s dual mandate of minimum price stability and maximum employment.

Overall, Fed Chair Powell sounded less hawkish on the policy and also President Trump, which provided some relief to the market. Wall Street closed in green. The S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Nasdaq-100 Composite rose 0.7%, while the Dow Jones (DJ-30) added 222 points. But despite that, the US stock market posted its worst week since September’24, with the Dow and S&P 500 down more than 2%, and the Nasdaq lost 3%.

Fast forward to Monday, March 9, 2025, US President Trump appeared on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" with his favorite journalist Maria Bartiromo, discussing key topics including U.S. economic policy, trade tariffs, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Economic Policy, Trade and Tariffs

Trump defended his administration's recent imposition of a 25% tariff on cars and auto parts from Mexico and Canada, a move that had faced criticism from automakers and economists concerned about potential economic uncertainty. He acknowledged granting a one-month delay on these tariffs after discussions with major car manufacturers like Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors, stating, "I gave them a little bit of a break for this short period."

Trump discussed his tariff policies, particularly those affecting Canada and Mexico. He stated that businesses would have clarity on tariffs by April 2, when his reciprocal tariffs are set to be implemented. Trump also suggested that tariffs could increase over time, emphasizing the need to correct what he perceives as unfair trade practices by almost all other trade partners.

Addressing concerns about a possible recession, Trump was non-committal, saying, "I hate to predict things like that," but emphasized a "period of transition" as the U.S. endeavors to "bring wealth back to America." He also indicated that tariffs could increase over time, asserting plans to implement "reciprocal tariffs” against trading partners with existing tariffs on U.S. goods starting April 2, 2025. He explained, "What they charge us, we charge them."

President Trump addressed concerns about a potential recession in the U.S. economy. He acknowledged that there would be a "period of transition" due to his policies but did not explicitly predict a recession. Trump emphasized that his administration is working to bring wealth back to America, which he believes will ultimately benefit the country.

Conflict in Ukraine

On the topic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Trump reiterated his claim that he could end the conflict within 24 hours. He proposed a direct approach, suggesting he would tell Ukrainian President Zelensky, "No more, you gotta make a deal," and similarly pressure Russian President Putin by threatening increased support for Ukraine if a deal isn't reached. He stated, "If you don't make a deal, we're going to give them [Ukraine] a lot, more than they ever got if we have to."

The interview touched on Trump's recent confrontation with Ukrainian President Zelensky in the Oval Office. Trump described Zelensky as "smart and tough" but expressed dissatisfaction with how Ukraine received aid from the U.S. under the Biden administration. Trump likened Zelensky's actions to "taking candy from a baby," suggesting that he does not believe Zelensky is sufficiently grateful for U.S. support.

Throughout the interview, Trump maintained a firm stance on protecting American economic interests and reiterated his belief in his ability to influence international conflicts, reflecting his ongoing engagement in key national and global issues.

Education and Immigration

Trump criticized the U.S. education system, claiming it is among the worst globally despite being the most expensive. He expressed a desire to dismantle the Department of Education and decentralize education to the states. Additionally, Trump discussed immigration, advocating for policies that allow top international students to remain in the U.S. after graduation against the $5M proposed US Green Card, comparing them to athletes who are sought after by teams.

Defense of Elon Musk and DOGE

Trump defended Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been involved in significant federal spending cuts and layoffs. Trump praised Musk as a "real patriot" for his efforts to reduce government waste.

Highlights of Trump’s comments in his Fox News Interview on 10th March’25:

·       We have had a great almost six weeks now. And I hope we can continue to go like that. We're at a very rapid pace. We have to make up for a lot of lost time. And the country was very poorly run for four years. You know better than anybody. Nobody covered it better than you, frankly. It's an honor to be with so many great people.

·       I want a dynamic country, where the private enterprise carries the day, not the government. And I want a strong country militarily. We need that nowadays. You can see that probably better than ever before. So I rebuilt our military. A lot of it was given away to Afghanistan. But it was a lot, but a very small portion, in all fairness, but when you think about the billions and billions of dollars that were just handed over.

·       But I rebuilt it. We're going to be rebuilding it again because we need that. We always need that. But we're doing a series of incentives, tax incentives and other things. The tax bill, I think, is going to be very important. Democrats will fight us all the way. One thing I learned the other night, again, I could say, because I -- it's my fifth such speech.

·       And at the beginning, I said -- I didn't know it was going to be as pertinent as it turned out to be -- that, no matter what I do, this group of people in front of us -- I could come up with a cure to the worst disease that the world has ever seen. I gave other examples. I said, no matter what I do, they're going to sit there angry, insolent.

·       You just see it. I mean, you see it. You can feel it. No matter what I say, no matter what I do, no matter who it is, they won't stand, they won't applaud, they won't clap. They will just sit there with sour faces. And that's what they did. And it was interesting. I said I wonder if I should put this in, but it worked out to be true.

·       And I think by putting it in, I showed that it was true. And it's sad because we're doing great things in this country. This country's got a chance to be pretty quickly great again. I think -- I think the country's got a big light over it right now. And I have been told this by even other foreign leaders.

·       We had Modi. We had everywhere. We had from France to India to about 12 that want to come in. They all want to be here. Every one of them wants to be here. We had the prime minister of the United Kingdom who was here, and he couldn't believe it. He said the difference in terms of the feelings about the United States is very different.

·       It feels that we're back, we're respected again. We are respected again. And, in a way, we're back. And it's only been a few weeks.

·       Because I wanted to help Mexico, and Canada, to a certain extent. We're a big, big country. And they do a lot of their business with us, whereas, in our case, it's much less significant. We do very little with Canada by comparison. And I wanted to help the American carmakers until April 2. April 2, it becomes all reciprocal.

·       What they charge us, we charge them. It's a big deal, but what they charge us, we charge them. But this is short-term. And I felt that, for the good of the American carmakers and the MCA, you know what -- the USMCA, what -- that's Mexico, Canada. I thought it would be a fair thing to do. And so I gave them a little bit of a break for this short period.

·       But the tariffs could go up as time goes by, and they may go up. And I don't know if it's predictability-- I think—

·       But, for years, the globalists, the big globalists have been ripping off the United States. They have been taking money away from the United States. And all we're doing is getting some of it back. And we're going to treat our country fairly.

·       This country has been ripped off from every nation in the world, and every company outside in the world. We have been ripped off at levels never seen before. And all we're going to do is get it back. We're going to get a lot of it back. We're not going to let people take advantage of us anymore. You know, we're the United States.

·       I believe that, if Kamala had won, meaning that whole ideology, Kamala and Biden and Obama, that whole group of people, if they had won, I don't think we would have had a country any longer. I think this was the most -- somebody said it the other day, the most consequential election in 129 years. If they would have won, I don't think we would have had a country.

·       Not only did we win. We won every swing state. I remember I was watching your show just before the election. You were talking about-- I think he's going to win four or five. We won all seven. And we won the popular vote by millions of votes. We won the number of counties by 2,500 to 500, 2,750 to 500. And it's amazing--- The map is all red.

Trump on the probability of an imminent recession: I have only been here for--- I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing. And there are always periods of -- it takes a little time. It takes a little time. But I don't -- I think it should be great for us. I mean, I think it should be great--

Trump on China trade deal one:  It's going to be great ultimately for the farmer. Don't forget I made the deal with China on farmers where they had to buy $50 billion worth of products, $50 billion, from 15 to 50. And it was great-- They did it when I was president. What happened is, when Biden was president, they didn't buy any longer—(it was stopped)-- because there was nobody to call him (China’s Prez Xi). I used to call President Xi. I said you got to do me a favor. You have to live up to that agreement. And he was great. He did--

On recent disruption in the US stock market: Well,  not much, I mean, in all fairness, -- There will be a little disruption. Look, what I have to do is build a strong country. You can't watch the stock market. If you look at China, they have a 100-year perspective. We have a quarter. We go by quarters. And you can't go by that. You have to do what's right. What we're doing is, we're building a tremendous foundation for the future, tremendous foundation. Everything's been taken away.

On Make in America theme:

We don't make ships anymore. We don't -- you just saw one of the biggest shipbuilders in the world, one of the biggest shipping people in the whole world.-- In the Oval Office. He's announcing a $20 billion investment in the United States, which he would have never done except for this. But look at this. Honda, Toyota, they're all coming in. You take a look at what's happening. The chipmaker, the greatest chipmaker, Mr. Wei, the biggest in the world, by far, is going to spend $200 billion on making a massive plant to make chips-- Build it here, there's no tariff.

On clarity about re3ciprocal and other tariffs to be effective from 2nd April’25:

You will have a lot, but we may go up with some tariffs. It depends. We may go up. I don't think we will go down, but we may go up. And -- but you're going to have -- they have plenty of clarity. They just use it. That's almost a sound bite. They always say that: We want clarity. Look, our country's been ripped off for many decades, for many, many decades, and we're not going to be ripped off anymore.

On one-month extension for auto tariffs from Mexico and Canada:

---it's a transition into April. And, after that, I'm not doing this. I mean, I told them, I said, look, I'm going to do it this one time, but, after that, I'm not doing it. They called me and they wanted help doing this little transition period, and I gave it to them.

On Oval Office high voltage drama with Ukraine’ Zelenskyy and the ultimate failure to make a deal:

Well, he was able to -- it was like taking candy from a baby, what he did. He's a smart guy. And he's a tough guy. And he took money out of this country under Biden like candy from a baby-- it was so easy, with that same attitude. And I just don't think he's grateful. We gave him, in my opinion, $350 billion.

Europe is in for $100 billion. We gave him $350 billion. And he's talking about the fact that they have fought and they have -- there's bravery-- because somebody has to use the weapons. But without those weapons -- don't forget, I was the one that gave him the Javelins that was able to knock down all the types.

On Gaza War:

Obama gave nothing. Look, if I were president-- that would have never happened. You wouldn't have had Russia going into Ukraine. You wouldn't have had -- the whole situation with Hamas and October 7 would have never happened, because Iran was broke. They had no money. They weren't giving it to Hamas Hezbollah or anybody else.

On Afghanistan:

You would have never had the worst evacuation anyone's ever seen, which is Afghanistan, which was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country. And you know what else you wouldn't have had? You wouldn't have had inflation. We had record-setting inflation under Biden. It was a killer. And it's one of the reasons I won the election.

On the high probability of higher inflation because of the Trump tariffs tantrum:

Well--(that’s short-term pain for long-term gain)--- In the meantime, guess what? Interest rates are down for the last three, to four days at good levels. I mean, when you add interest rates, you're talking about it's gone down. We have been -- I have been saying, let's get interest rates down. Nobody ever gets rich when the interest rates are high, because people can't borrow money. Interest rates are going down. You know what else is going down? What have I been trying to get down?

Energy-- Energy is going down. I would love to see energy go down. Energy is really what caused it. They screwed up my energy. I had the most energy, and they screwed it up. Then they went back to it. It was going through the roof. They went back to some drilling. But it was gone. It was hopeless. It was lost. But energy has gone down and interest rates have gone out -- over the last week. That's a big thing. I love that.

On the possibility of the Ukraine Mineral deal:

Yes, I think so. I think it'll happen.

Whether Trump is sure about the huge untapped reserve of rare earth materials in the Ukraine:

Well, I do. I do. I mean, I have had it checked. I have had it checked-- It's very valuable. But, with all that being said, Biden should have never put up $350 billion. He should have equalized with Europe. All he had to do was say, you have got to stay even with us. They're in for 100. We're in for 350. How does that -- and we have an ocean in between us, right? We're not in the danger that they are. They are in much greater danger if you call it danger. He should have never done that.

The other thing with Europe that bothers me is --that they have given Russia more money by far for buying their oil than they put into Ukraine. So they're paying all this money to Russia. And we're in there for $350 billion. Biden should have never done that.

On the century-old US dependency on Europe (Foreign Policy) and whether the US can survive without active US support

Well, it may not survive anyway. But we have some weaknesses with Russia. You know, it takes two. Look, it was not going to happen, that war, and it happened. So now we're stuck with this mess.

On Biden’s immigration and so-called open borders policy:

Think of what he stuck me with, open borders, where we have 21 million people come into our country, many of whom should not be here. Many are criminals. Many, many are criminals, many murderers, murderers, drug dealers, drug lords. We got that. We have the whole mess with Israel on October 7. We have all of the ramifications of the worst and dumbest withdrawal in history.

On the distinction between Gaza and Ukraine war:

They're very different places, OK, very, very different. You're talking about different levels of power. You're talking about different parts of the world. The Middle East has been under attack forever. It's been -- you look. When wasn't it under attack? And then we came along and did the Abraham Accords, which was unheard of.

Whether Trump is tough on Russia like Hamas:

Well, I have been much tougher, because I haven't done to Hamas. That's been Israel that has to do with Hamas. But Israel does tell me what's going on. I think I have been very tough to Russia, tougher than anybody's ever been to Russia if you think about it.

On allegation whether Trump is a Russian asset or sympathizer:

First of all, we had the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, which was a very bad thing and could have led to a war. And that was started by Schiff and all these lowlifes.

They're total lowlifes. And it was a fake deal, the 51 intelligence agencies. It was -- I took all their passes away. They can't participate anymore. These guys know it came from Hunter Biden's laptop from hell, which came from his bathroom and/or his bedroom, OK? Not a pretty sight. But this was a Hunter Biden thing.

They said it was from Russia. No, I have been very tough. Remember this. I'm the one that stopped the Russian pipeline, Nord Stream 2. I stopped it. Biden came in and he approved it. I'm the one that put sanctions on Russia. I'm the one that gave the Javelins against Russia. No, I have been very tough. But I got along well with Putin.

And because I got along well, oh, they say, oh, he's so -- nobody's ever been -- Putin would be the first to say it. Nobody's been tougher than Trump. And Biden hasn't been tough. Biden's done nothing. He was a weak, pathetic man.

Nobody has been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump, nobody. And they know that. They know that. Just look at the things I just told you. The pipeline, I stopped it. The biggest job they have ever done was the pipeline, Nord Stream 2. Nobody ever heard of it until I came along. They were building it happily.

They were going to supply Germany and everybody else all over Europe. And what did I do? I stopped it. The biggest economic job they have ever had, I stopped it. Biden got in. On the second day, he approved it. He said, let it go forward. It was stopped. Just that one thing alone tells you everything.

Stance with Iran negotiation with the help of Russia as a mediator:

Yes. Well, there are two ways Iran can be handled, militarily or you making a deal. I would prefer to make a deal because I'm not looking to hurt Iran. They're great people. I know so many Iranians from this country-- No, not their leadership-- they're very evil people. No, but the people of Iran are great. But they had a tough regime, and they'd meet and they'd be shot in the streets. I mean, it was a tough deal. But I would rather negotiate a deal. I'm not sure that everybody agrees with me, but we can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily.

But the time is happening now. The time is coming up. Something's going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran -- and I have written him a letter saying, I hope you're going to negotiate, because, if we have to go in militarily, it's going to be a terrible thing for them. I said I hope you're going to negotiate because it's going to be a lot better for Iran. And I think they want to get that letter. The other alternative is, that we have to do something because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon.

On Golden Dome missile defense system for the US, the stance on denuclearization and any cut in defense spending:

I never said cut. No, it -- not in these days. I'd love to cut defense spending, but not now, because you have China-- You have Russia. You have a lot of problems out there---what I have said is, that we spend a lot of money on nuclear missiles, nuclear weapons. The level of destruction is beyond anything you can even imagine. It's just bad that everybody has to spend all this money on something that, if it's used, it's probably the end of the world--when I listen to these climate lunatics and they talk about global warming and they say the ocean is going to rise one-eighth of an inch in the next 300 years, and nobody ever talks about nuclear weapons or some of the other things, but the nuclear weapons in particular right now.

They talk about the climate, and they talk about the dangers of the climate, but they don't talk about the dangers of a nuclear weapon, which could happen tomorrow. They say, in 300 years -- I watched Biden for years say the existential threat. He loved the term existential threat is -- Our greatest existential threat is from the climate. And I said, no-- the greatest is sitting on shelves in various countries called nuclear weapons that are big monsters that can blow your heads off for miles and miles and miles. And they never mention that.

On Panama Canal, after news  that an American company, BlackRock, will acquire two ports operating around the Panama Canal from Hong Kong-based C.K. Hutchison for $23 billion:

China essentially had it. It was a China-based company. I'd much rather deal with BlackRock than a China-based company. And BlackRock is fine. I knew they were doing that. I was OK with it. It makes it easier. You have to understand, that Jimmy Carter, the Carter administration gave the Panama Canal for $1, gave the Panama Canal to Panama for no reason. They had a little demonstration of a few people. And he did give it. It's the most expensive thing we have ever built in the history of our country, relatively, in other words, if you bring it up in today's dollars.

We lost 38,000 people to the mosquito and to snakes. Snakes are vicious. They had a very vicious snake. If you got bit, you were in big trouble – but mostly to mosquitoes and malaria. And we built this incredible thing, the eighth wonder of the world, right? You know, it connects two oceans, and one ocean is substantially higher than the other. Nobody knows that. That's why you have the locks and the most incredible thing. And it's -- it does great.

And we shouldn't have given it. We should have never given it. But we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama. And now Panama has gone out and essentially given it, ceded it to China. And until they ripped all the signs down about a week ago when they saw that I was serious about this, most of the signs were written in Chinese. They were all Chinese all over the place. That wasn't the deal. We're taking the Panama Canal back.

On Congress’ reconciliation package (CR) to resolve the latest Debt limit standoff and management of fiscal/budget deficits just by DOGE cuts:

We're going to have growth like you have never seen before. We have -- we're going to have growth. I'm not going to touch Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid-- Now, we're going to get fraud out of there. You see where I talk about it all the time? We have people 250 years old and all, tremendous fraud. But that has nothing to do with that. We're going to get the fraud out, and everybody wants us to get the fraud out, and, therefore, you will make it better.

On overall economic plan:

But we're going to have tremendous growth. When you look at all of the car companies that are now coming into the United States -- and they have been announcing, like, daily. They're going to build their plants, and they're going to create tremendous numbers of jobs, and so many other things. And I'm doing something else that I think is very exciting.

On US Gold Card citizenship:

Maybe I'm wrong, a gold card. For $5 million, you buy a path to citizenship in this country. We will see. I believe that Apple and all these companies can't get people to come out of college and come because they get thrown out. Think of it. You graduate number one at the Wharton School of Finance or Harvard or Stanford, and you get thrown out of your country. You can't stay more than one day. And they want to hire these people, but they can't. They have complained to me about it. Now they can buy a gold card, and they can take -- and -- that gold card and make it a part of their deal to get these top students. No different than an athlete, like a bonus. It's a signing bonus.

And you're going to have a lot of people buy that. You're going to have a lot of companies buying gold cards. So, for $5 million -- now, it's a lot of money when you add it up if we sell a lot of them. If we don't, it's nothing ventured, nothing lost. But I think it's going to be very successful. You can't get a green card. A green card -- this would be a green card on steroids. This would be much better than a green card. Chinese students may also exploit it— But they don't have to do that. They can do it in other ways.

On DOGE and Musk’s efforts for cost-cutting at Federal levels:

What he's done is unbelievable--he's found hundreds of billions of dollars worth of fake contracts. And I read them, just a tiny portion of them, the other night, transgender surgery on mice, hundreds of -- I mean, the money they're spending on all of this stuff. The whole thing's a scam. And you will find ultimately that the money that they sent comes back to a lot of the people that made those deals, OK? You're going to find that. What he's also done is made people realize how many people should be cut, because, normally, you go in and you say, all right, cut 4 percent of your workforce. He said to cut 50 percent, 60 percent, 70 percent. That's a big thing. No, he's done a great job. And he's paying a price for it (getting death threats). He's -- he is a real patriot. This is something that's not good for him. And yet he's doing it. But he's opened a lot of eyes.

On doubling of SALT deductions from the present $10K:

I'd love to see something happen on SALT. I'm the one that made the deal. Ronald Reagan tried like -- you have no idea to get what I got. I got ANWR and I got SALT. He couldn't get ANWR and he couldn't get SALT. I got SALT. But nobody knew how strong it would be. I'd like to see them give back some of that. Now, the reason -- there are two reasons. But the reason that people don't like it is because they don't have it. But everybody has it because it's a deduction. But I'd like to see a good portion of SALT be hit back. I'd like to see that. I also think it would have a big impact on the election because I think you would have a lot of congressmen get elected that maybe wouldn't get elected without it. Well, they're at 10 or so, and maybe they're trying to get it to 20, but I think that would be very good, yes.

On whether Trump will appoint a Fed VC and Bank Supervisor despite the Fed's trying to stonewall DOGE cost-cutting efforts and Chair Powell trying to lobby the White House to not fill the position of vice chairman and bank supervisor. Powell allegedly said he would just meld that into his role:

Sure-- Yes--- Well, I haven't heard he's trying to do that, but the answer is, yes, I will be picking somebody fairly soon.

Overall, the interview highlighted Trump's assertive stance on economic and foreign policy issues, as well as his commitment to implementing significant changes in various sectors of American life. The discussion covered a range of topics pertinent to the early days of Trump’s second term, including economic policies, foreign affairs, and domestic political developments.

A significant portion of the interview focused on Trump’s economic agenda, particularly his tariff policies and their implications for the U.S. economy. Trump defended his approach to tariffs, emphasizing their role in protecting American industries and bringing manufacturing back to the United States. He highlighted recent commitments from companies like Honda and Toyota to onshore production as evidence of his strategy’s success.

When pressed about the potential for a recession in 2025—especially in light of the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s projection of a -2.8% contraction in the first quarter—Trump avoided a definitive prediction. Instead, he described the current economic phase as a “period of transition,” suggesting that his policies were laying a “tremendous foundation for the future.” He contrasted the U.S.’s short-term economic focus with China’s “hundred-year perspective,” arguing that his administration’s moves, though disruptive in the short term, were necessary for long-term prosperity.

Trump addressed several pressing international issues, offering insights into his administration’s foreign policy stance. On the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Bartiromo questioned whether Trump was “comfortable” with the possibility that Ukraine “may not survive” the war. Trump acknowledged the complexity of the situation, noting the “different levels of power” between Russia and Ukraine and describing them as “very, very different places.” He refrained from committing to a specific outcome, instead framing his approach as pragmatic and focused on U.S. interests. Regarding Iran, Trump referenced a letter he sent to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging negotiation over Tehran’s nuclear program. He warned that failure to “make a deal” would lead to a military confrontation, underscoring his belief that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Trump reflected on his recent speech to Congress, touting it as a success and a signal of his administration’s strong start. He criticized Democrats for their behavior during the address, accusing them of disrespect and division, though Fox Host Bartiromo countered that she was “surprised” by their actions given the speech’s broad appeal. Trump also discussed his legislative priorities, including a forthcoming tax bill aimed at reducing bureaucracy and empowering private enterprise. He expressed confidence in his administration’s momentum, claiming it was off to “a great start” despite early challenges.

Bartiromo pressed Trump on flip-flops of his tariff policies, noting that businesses were seeking “clarity” amid shifting announcements, such as the temporary pause on tariffs against Canada and Mexico until April 2, 2025. Trump justified the pause as a “fair” move to support American carmakers in the short term but hinted that tariffs could increase over time. He acknowledged the uncertainty this created, stating, “They may go up, and I don’t know if it’s predictability,” to which Bartiromo responded, “So that’s not clarity.” This exchange highlighted the tension between Trump’s economic vision and the immediate needs of the business community.

Trump’s interview reveals a blend of confidence and ambiguity as he navigates the early stages of his second term. His reluctance to predict a recession, despite economic warning signs, suggests a strategy of downplaying short-term volatility to maintain public and market confidence. His tariff policy, while framed as a cornerstone of economic revitalization, appears to be a work in progress, with ongoing adjustments creating uncertainty—a point Bartiromo subtly challenged. On foreign policy, Trump’s comments reflect a transactional approach, prioritizing U.S. leverage and avoiding firm commitments, particularly on Ukraine’s fate.

The March 9, 2025, interview with Maria Bartiromo offers a snapshot of President Trump’s priorities and mindset two months into his second term. Economic transformation through tariffs, a cautious stance on foreign conflicts, and a combative posture toward domestic political opponents dominate his narrative. However, the lack of specificity on critical issues like recession risks and tariff timelines leaves open questions about execution and impact. As of March 11, 2025, this interview serves as both a progress report and a preview of the challenges ahead for Trump’s administration.

On 11th March’25, Trump wrote in his Truth handle:

“The prices of eggs have come down, interest rates have come down, gasoline prices have come down—It's all coming down! We're doing it the right way, and I have tremendous confidence in this Country and in the people of this Country…”

Conclusions:

Trump is trying to use the tariffs leverage as a weapon against all US issues. But it may backfire and not only affects the US economy but also the US global hegemony. The US under Trump or even his successors may find increasing global isolation and dominance of China. Trump’s policy is causing the biggest geo-political shift post-Cold War era and China is fast becoming the undisputed global superpower in almost all respects, even in techs.

China is far ahead of the US in terms of industrial and infra ecosystems. Thus Trump can’t compete with Chinese manufacturing global supremacy by simply imposing tariffs and encouraging domestic inefficiencies. Trump has to invest much more in fragile US infra to compete with mighty China and Make America Great Again!

Weekly-Technical trading levels: DJ-30, NQ-100, and Gold 

Looking ahead, whatever the fundamental narrative, technically Dow Future (CMP: 43850) now has to sustain over 44050 for any further rally to 44250/44400-44500/44800 and 45000/45200-45300/45500 and 45700/45800-45900/46000 in the coming days; otherwise sustaining below 44000, DJ-30 may again fall to 43800/43675-43300/43150 and 42800/42700-42000/41900 in the coming days.

Similarly, NQ-100 Future (20915) has to sustain over 21050 for a further rally to 21300/21500-21700/21850 and 22050/22200-22350/22500 and 22700/23000-23300/23500 in the coming days; otherwise, sustaining below 21000, NQ-100 may again fall to 20900/20600-20400/20150 in the coming days.

Also, technically Gold (CMP: 2855) has to sustain over 2830 for a further rally to 2870/2905-2925/2955 and 2965/2975-3000/3025 and 3050/3075; otherwise sustaining below 2825 may further fall to 2810/2795-2780/2765 and 2745/2725-2695/2665 and further 2635/2600-2585/2560 in the coming days.