Trump Downplays Possible Recession As A 'Transition Period'

"Anything can happen," the president admitted.

President Donald Trump danced around the possibility of his tariffs causing a recession and downplayed how bad that could be, telling NBC News that it would just be part of a “transition period.”

Excerpts of the interview were released Friday ahead of it airing on “Meet The Press” on Sunday. The conversation kicked off when host Kristen Welker asked Trump if he was “comfortable with the country potentially dipping into a recession for a period of time if you are able to achieve your long term goals.” The president avoided a direct answer.

“Some people on Wall Street say that we’re going to have the greatest economy in history. Why don’t you talk about them?” he said, repeating nearly the same answer when Welker asked again. “There are many people on Wall Street who say this is going to be the greatest windfall to ever happen,” Trump replied.

When asked a third time, Trump seemed to acknowledge his tariffs could cause Americans some financial pain.

“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,” he said.