'Freak the world out': Pollster warns Trump tariffs will cause 'explosion on Wall Street'

02 April

Frank Luntz — a renowned polling expert and longtime messaging guru for the Republican Party — is cautioning that President Donald Trump's tariffs could be particularly harmful to the economy and consumer confidence.

During a Tuesday interview on CNN, Luntz said that Trump's so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs may cause significant shock to financial markets after they've been rolled out. He observed that Trump moved his tariff announcement from 3 PM to 4 PM, "because the markets are closed" at that point.

"It's going to freak the world out. And some Americans don't care," Luntz said. "You could see an explosion on Wall Street. and Donald Trump has always used the stock market as a measurement of his success. Well, he can't ignore it now."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has been on a rollercoaster ride in recent weeks, as Trump has announced and then withdrawn tariffs on key trade partners like Canada, China and Mexico. Investors fear that Americans could cut back on their spending if tariffs end up raising prices, and other nations have already warned that any tariffs Trump imposes will be met with retaliatory tariffs on exported American goods. The stock market just experienced its worst quarter since 2022.

Luntz told CNN's Boris Johnson that Trump "needs to listen" to investors "if the markets are saying this is not the right way to do it." However, he acknowledged that respondents to many of his focus groups have said that "Americans are tired of being treated as second-class citizens" and "of countries like China taking advantage of our markets, selling their products and blocking our products."

"But [Americans] don't want to pay more. And the tariffs are like a tax. and so we've got once again, a mixed message," he said. "I hope Americans respond slowly to this, because in the end our businesses are at stake. Our economic system is at stake. Capitalism is at stake. And how we handle this will determine how the rest of the world is going to see us, trade with us, negotiate with us, and treat us in the months and the years to follow."

Watch the video of Luntz's remarks on CNN below, or by clicking this link.

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