Wall Street fears Trump will wreck the soft landing

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For the past year, U.S. economic policymakers have been singularly focused on achieving a so-called soft landing that brings inflation down without a recession.

Now, a new team of pilots are considering a course correction that, by their own acknowledgment, might tip the economy toward a hard landing. President Trump and his senior advisers in recent days have signaled indifference to rising risks that trade uncertainty chills private-sector investment. They have argued a “detox" might be needed in spending and hiring, that falling stock values aren’t a big worry, and that inflation could rise in the short run.

In an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News, Trump sidestepped a question about whether a recession could lie ahead. “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big," he said. “What I have to do is build a strong country.

You can’t really watch the stock market." Given a chance to explain those comments later Sunday, Trump instead doubled down in remarks to reporters on Air Force One that evening. “Tariffs are going to be the greatest thing we’ve ever done as a country. It’s going to make our country rich again," he said.

The comments roiled stock markets on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 890 points, down 2.1%. The S&P 500 fell 2.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 4%, its largest decline since 2022.

All three major indexes are now below their levels recorded on Election Day last November. Delta Air Lines said domestic demand had softened when it slashed its first-quarter earnings and revenue guidance after markets closed on Monday. The company saw a “pretty significant shift" in sentiment in February, and “consumer spending started to