President Trump appeared on Wednesday to acknowledge that his high tariffs on China may lead to fewer goods on shelves and at higher prices.
As economists warn that Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports will disrupt the supply chain and lead to higher prices, Mr. Trump insisted the real pain is being shouldered by China, while recognizing consumers may see fewer toys on shelves and at slightly higher prices for a while. Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, the president said Americans don’t need most many of the goods coming from China.
“I told you before, they’re having tremendous difficulty because their factories are not doing business,” the president said of China. “They made a trillion dollars with Biden, a trillion dollars, even a trillion one with Biden, selling us stuff, much of it we don’t need. You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open.’ Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally. But we’re not talking about something that we have to go out of our way. They have ships that are loaded up with stuff, much of which, not all of it, but much of which we don’t need.”
U.S. imports of goods made in China expand far beyond toys to include electronics, clothes, household goods, appliances, construction materials and more. The president has said he believes tariffs on Chinese goods will ultimately be substantially lower than 145%.
Mr. Trump’s remarks came hours after the Commerce Department reported U.S. domestic gross product shrank at an 0.3% annual rate in the first quarter of 2025, down from growth of 2.4% at the end of 2024. It was the country’s worst quarterly performance since early 2022. Despite taking credit for a strong stock market after his election victory and inauguration, Mr. Trump on Wednesday insisted Wednesday’s economic numbers had nothing to do with him, and were the fault of his predecessor.
“This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s,” the president wrote Wednesday on his social media platform Truth Social. “I didn’t take over until January 20th. Tariffs will soon start kicking in, and companies are starting to move into the USA in record numbers. Our Country will boom, but we have to get rid of the Biden ‘Overhang.’ This will take a while, has NOTHING TO DO WITH TARIFFS, only that he left us with bad numbers, but when the boom begins, it will be like no other. BE PATIENT!!!”
On Wednesday afternoon, the president took that statement a step further, telling reporters, “You could even say the next quarter is sort of Biden.”
Mr. Trump has dismissed the possibility of higher prices stemming from tariffs before. Last month, he told NBC News in a phone interview that he “couldn’t care less” if automakers raised prices as a result of his new tariffs. This week, the president took executive actions to soften the impact of the 25% tariffs he’s imposing on foreign cars and foreign auto parts.
A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found most Americans — 69% — say the Trump administration isn’t focusing enough on lowering prices, and 62% say he’s focusing too much on implementing tariffs.
