Politics

Karoline Leavitt Shuts Down Latest ‘Fake News’ Report On Trump White House

Published

5 days ago

April 7, 2025

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt poured cold water on the mainstream media’s latest suggestion that the administration is considering pulling back on its recently enacted tariffs.

Global markets entered their third straight day of declines following last week’s “Liberation Day” announcement by President Donald Trump where he leveed double-digit tariffs on more than 60 countries around the globe. News outlets have breathlessly covered the subsequent stock market fallout and on Monday pointed to dramatic drop-offs in Asian markets as a sign that the pressure is mounting on Trump to change course.

But the suggestion that President Trump is considering a 90-day pause on those tariffs is “fake news,” Leavitt told CNBC.

“So the White House pouring cold water on this idea wherever it came from that they are considering a ninety-day pause on tariffs saying that the president is committed to his tariff regime,” Eamon Javers reported Monday morning.

One of the earliest suggestions that a 90-day pause be considered came from Bill Ackman, the billionaire Trump donor who warned that the U.S. is headed for an “economic nuclear winter” if the tariffs are not repealed quickly. Those comments were echoed by Virgin Group CEO Richard Branson, who said on Monday the U.S. will face “ruin for years to come” if Trump does not “change course” quickly.

“The US government can still turn things around, but it must act in the next few hours,” the entrepreneur wrote on X Monday morning.

Other members of the Trump administration bolstered Leavitt’s assertion that they are in it for the long haul. Kevin Hassett, director of the president’s National Economic Council, told “Fox & Friends” that his team is already seeing positive developments as countries rush to make deals to avoid the pain of new tariffs.

“There are more than 50 countries in negotiation with the president. We’ve got the prime minister of Israel coming today. We’ve had a reach-out overnight from Taiwan. But I would urge everyone… to ease off the rhetoric a little bit,” Hassett said.

In dozens of posts on Truth Social, President Trump has struck a defiant tone in castigating those who he claims are seeking to undermine negotiations before the tariffs have had a chance to put pressure on countries with lopsided trade surpluses against the U.S. On Sunday, he shared a clip of Fox News’ Maria Baritomo stating her belief that the president “will not bend” to the pressure campaign.

“Rates are plummeting, oil prices are plummeting, deregulation is happening,” Baritomo said on her Sunday morning show. “President Trump is not going to bend.”