President Donald Trump predicted the public would experience an improved economy “probably in a year or so.”
Trump made the prediction during an interview with Fox News on Thursday in London after promising on last year’s campaign trail that he would improve the economy on Day One of his second administration.
When asked by the news network when people would start to experience an improved economy, citing a Fox News poll from last week that found 52% of respondents consider the Trump administration to have made the economy worse, Trump responded, “When the factories start opening.”
“I mean, right now we’re building them,” Trump said. “They’re all coming back because of the tariffs. Without the tariffs, a different story, but they’re coming back because of the tariffs, and you’re going to see that kick in probably in a year or so.”
Trump underscored that foreign investment in the United States under his leadership was now at $17 trillion, thanks to his tariffs, before defending his trade policies from critics.
“It’s only because they don’t understand the word tariff,” he said. “The only people that are against tariffs are people that are in favor of other countries.”
Prior to the interview, Trump had repeatedly promoted tariff revenue reaching $172 billion in the fiscal year to date ending in August.
When asked whether he would consider returning some of that revenue to taxpayers, Trump said, “Politically, that’s a nice thing to do, but you can do that and you can also pay down debt because we’re talking about very big numbers.”
“Both, maybe? I mean, I could see both. I could see giving something back,” he said. “Because, look, these people have been forced to suffer for years by being ripped off by other countries, including China and, frankly, including the European Union.”
Trump went on to preview his desire to reduce prescription drug prices “over the next year by not 50% or 60%, but by 1000%.”
“If they don’t agree, I use tariffs to get them to agree,” he said. “You’re talking about a monumental change in healthcare that’s going to affect Medicare, Medicaid, even Social Security. It’s going to affect everyone. That will be one of the biggest things you’ll ever see done because we’ve been paying for the healthcare of every nation in the world.”
Trump’s wide-ranging interview on Fox News, conducted by Martha MacCallum on The Story, covered other topics, from the Russia–Ukraine war to last week’s assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The sit-down came after Trump’s press conference alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, concluding his two-day second state visit to the United Kingdom, and before his 20-minute informal press conference with reporters traveling with him on Air Force One en route to the White House.
During both of those appearances, Trump was pressed on the importance of free speech after Kirk’s death and this week’s cancellation of ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! over comments its host made about the activist.
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When asked by Fox News whether it was the president’s responsibility to “bring people together,” Trump said “ideally” before reflecting on how the COVID-19 pandemic upended “the whole world.”
“Young people are recovering because they were, they missed a piece of their life,” he said. “I wonder what it would be like if we didn’t have that horrible thing… I think the only thing that’s going to bring us together is tremendous success.”