Vance: I thought market reaction to Trump tariffs 'could be worse'

Vice President Vance said he thought the market reaction to President Trump’s tariff plan would have been worse, saying that the White House team is feeling good about the rollout.

“We’re feeling good. Look, I frankly thought, in some ways, it could be worse on the markets, because this is a big transition,” Vance told Newsmax in an interview on Thursday.

“You saw the president said earlier today, it’s like a patient who was very sick. We did the operation and now it’s time to make the patient better, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he added. “We have to remember that for 40 years, American economic policy has rewarded people who ship jobs overseas. It’s taxed our workers, it’s made our supply chains more brittle and it’s made our country less prosperous, less free and less secure.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened with a loss of more than 1,100 points on Friday after a nearly 1,700 point decline on the day prior. Markets were expected to fall further on Friday after China announced it would retaliate against Trump’s tariffs.

The vice president told Newsmax that the tariffs are about the “national security of manufacturing and making the things that we need,” and argued "good jobs" would follow a renewed focus on U.S. investment.

He referenced Trump’s comments to reporters on Thursday, when the president compared the tariffs to a surgical operation because “it’s a big thing.” The president at the time argued that markets would "boom" as a result of his tariffs.

The White House officials, including Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, have defended the tariff plan since they were formally unveiled on Wednesday, calling on Wall Street to trust that it will be a success.

The president’s steep tariff policy will impose a 10 percent tariff on all imports and higher tariffs on countries the White House says have unfair trade practices, ranging from 20 percent on the European Union to a total of 54 percent on China.