The Trump administration’s trade policy is in total disarray—and even they can’t explain what’s going on. Over the weekend, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick added more confusion when he said that the tariff exemptions announced just days earlier were only temporary. According to Lutnick, tariffs on Chinese electronics are coming back—soon.
On Monday, the panel at MSNBC’s Morning Joe tore into the administration for creating chaos in the markets and leaving Americans, businesses, and even their own officials guessing about what’s next.
“Are the tariffs on, are they off?” asked panelist Katty Kay. “Are certain products exempt, are they not exempt? What happens in 90 days time? What happens in 30 days time in some cases?”
She slammed the administration for failing to deliver a clear message. “The administration isn’t clarifying that confusion when it sends people out over the course of the weekend,” Kay said. “You would think that on Sunday shows they would make an effort to have a united front and explain exactly what’s going to happen.”
Panelist Pablo Torres didn’t hold back either.
“They don’t have a plan, just to say that very bluntly,” he said. “We are trying to interpret, almost talmudically, what’s actually going on here. What is the intent behind this? And they don’t know.”
John Heilemann warned that this isn’t just political theater—it’s going to hit Americans where it hurts.
“What you’ve seen since the tariff jihad on the part of the Trump administration began is the market reflecting something, one thing, really clearly,” he said. “The market thinks that consumers are going to get hammered in this trade war.”
He added, “The market is looking at the consumer-driven part of the economy and saying, we are headed towards a recession.”
Markets are tanking. Businesses are paralyzed. Consumers could be next. And according to Morning Joe, the people in charge? They don’t know what they’re doing.
Watch the segment below from MSNBC:
