'People don't believe him': CNN panel slams Trump admin's excuse for trade deal progress
President Donald Trump's administration made a significant promise to the American people that he's having a hard time keeping, according to some experts.
Trump's trade advisor, Peter Navarro, promised back in April that the administration would make 90 trade deals within 90 days. However, progress has been difficult to come by, to say the least. Now, Trump administration officials like Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are beginning to change their tune.
During an interview with CNBC on Monday, Bessent said that "talks are moving along, but the important thing here is the quality of the deals, not the timing of the deals."
"We're not going to rush for the sake of doing deals," he added.
Besent's comments didn't sit well with the panel on CNN's "NewsNight with Abby Phillip" later that evening.
"It just sounds like those things are contradictory," host Abby Phillip said.
Kevin O'Leary, chairman of O'Leary Ventures, tried to defend Bessent's comments by arguing that the tariffs Trump places on other countries would effectively negate other taxes levied on American consumers in foreign countries.
"But the deals are not happening," Phillip said.
"Why would we pay attention to the quality and not the speed when the entire premise was 90 deals in 90 days?" argued Adam Mockler, a Gen Z podcast host and political commentator. "They said they were going to get it done fast, reshape the global order."
"Kevin says the stock market thinks this is going to work, but no, people don't believe Trump," Mockler continued. "When he announced the Liberation Day Tariffs, the stock market immediately dropped. After he vascilated, people don't believe him."