Fox’s Maria Bartiromo Hints at Possible Trump Tariff Recession: ‘I Do Expect This to Hit Main Street’

Fox’s Maria Bartiromo acknowledged the possibility of a tariff-induced recession on Monday morning.

In an appearance on America’s Newsroom, Bartiromo observed that “the panic continues on Wall Street” and lamented that “we’ve lost more than six trillion dollars in market value in just two trading sessions” at the end of last week.

She continued:

I will say that there were some signals over the weekend that we could see some signs of de-escalation, because the White House said that 50 countries have contacted them to renegotiate tariffs lower. The president is going to have a press conference today with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Israel. We will likely hear a conversation about tariffs, perhaps they will cut tariffs there, that could be a good market moving sign. You had some good positive comments from the prime minister of the UK saying we don’t love what Trump is doing, but we understand, and there is a room for renegotiation there as well.

And I just want to point out some positives here. Because while you have the stock market selling off, oil prices are down and interest rates are down. These are two very good signs and that will help the consumer and certainly rein in inflation. So yes, we’re still in this panic moment where people are reacting to the tariffs. But there are some signals that we could see the president talk about renegotiating tariffs with certain countries. All we need is one announcement to actually change sentiment here because a lot of people are looking at this market saying this is a wild overreaction.

“So for people who are heavily invested in Wall Street, obviously that’s a big deal. But at what point, Maria, do these effects on Wall Street start to have an effect on Main Street?” asked anchor Dana Perino after Bartiromo offered her initial take.

“Well, it is going to have an effect on Main Street. Some things will become higher priced. We will see some products actually be raised in price because companies will pass on the cost of tariffs to consumers. I would expect that. That’s why you have some people saying that we could see a recession, we’ll see a growth slowdown.,” answered the Fox Business Network host. “This morning, Nancy Lazar, who I follow very closely, and I think she’s terrific from Piper Sandler. She says if the tariffs stay in place for at least the next six months, even if only 50 percent of the price shocks where we’re seeing products go higher in price show through the economy, U.S. real GDP is on track to decline about one percent in the second quarter, and in the third quarter with unemployment rising.”

“But look, President Trump told us that we were going to see a disruption. We are in that disruption right now,” added Bartiromo. “The bottom line is when you’re looking at this situation from 30,000 feet above, he’s trying to rejigger the economy so that the U.S. is not reliant on China for prescription drugs, or Taiwan for advanced semiconductor chips, to try to get manufacturing here. So yes, I do expect this to hit the Main Street and hit prices that will go higher, and that’s why you’re seeing this reaction in the market.”

Watch above via Fox News.