Trump Shrugs Off Recession, Says US Will Have 'Greatest Economy' Ever

President Donald Trump downplayed fears of an economic recession in a newly taped interview, expressing confidence that the U.S. will have “the greatest economy in the history of our country” in the long run.

The Context

Trump’s comments come as new data showed that the U.S. economy shrank during the first quarter of 2025. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of the economy shrinking.

Meanwhile, global markets have experienced a period of sharp volatility since Trump rolled out a plan last month to impose sweeping tariffs on nearly 200 countries around the world.

In the weeks since, Wall Street has seen significant swings in both directions as the president and his advisers walked back their initial proposal, introduced and then revoked tariff exemptions for certain industries and are in the midst of negotiating revised trade agreements with allies and adversaries alike.

By far the biggest question mark throughout the last month has been China, which faces a whopping 145 percent tariff from the United States and retaliated with its own retaliatory trade measures that economists say will significantly hike prices across the board for U.S. consumers.

Wall Street recovered from the initial shock this week, regaining the ground it lost after Trump escalated trade tensions with his tariff plan in early April.

What To Know

In a preview clip of Sunday’s upcoming Meet the Press interview that was released on Friday, Trump tells host Kristen Welker, “Look, yeah, it’s—everything’s OK. What we are—I said, this is a transition period. I think we’re going to do fantastically.”

When he was asked if he was worried about the possibility of an economic recession, Trump said he wasn’t.

“No,” the president said, though he acknowledged that “anything can happen.”

“I think we’re going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country,” Trump told Welker.

The preview of Trump’s interview came two days after he acknowledged during a Cabinet meeting that the cost of common consumer products could go up, resulting in emptier shelves in stores and a possible toy shortage this Christmas.

“You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open,'” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”

On Thursday, the president closed a loophole, known as the de minimis rule, which allowed products up to $800 to avoid tariffs as long as they were shipped directly to U.S. consumers or small businesses.

As a result, the popular Chinese retailer Temu on Friday stopped shipping products directly to the U.S. to avoid having to pay high tariffs.

What People Are Saying

Gene Seroka, the executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, told CNBC this week that he anticipates next week’s cargo volume to drop by more than a third compared to last year: “According to our own port optimizer, which measures the loadings in Asia, we’ll be down just a little bit over 35 percent next week compared to last year. And it’s a precipitous drop in volume with a number of major American retailers stopping all shipments from China based on the tariffs.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asked whether he was concerned about empty shelves, told “Fox & Friends”: “Not at present.”

“We have some great retailers,” he added. “I assume they pre-ordered. I think we’ll see some elasticities. I think we’ll see replacements, and then we will see how quickly the Chinese want to de-escalate.”

What Happens Next

Seroka told CNBC he anticipates that around a quarter of normally scheduled ship arrivals will be canceled this month.

Update 5/2/25 8:36 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and context.