Republican New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis accused CNN anchor Kate Bolduan of trying to pin economic problems on President Donald Trump despite his administration being in its early stages.
Trump did not rule out the possibility of a recession occurring in 2025 during an interview with FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo on “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“I hate to predict things like that,” Trump said. “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America. That’s a big thing … it takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us.”
Trump also acknowledged during his Tuesday congressional address that tariffs would cause “a little disturbance,” but asserted it would not be significant.
Bolduan, on “CNN News Central,” suggested that Trump was responsible for current issues in the economy but Malliotakis pushed back, pointing to the role of former President Joe Biden’s administration.
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“Given the uncertainty that President Trump’s tariff approach is creating and given that tariffs often prove inflationary, Donald Trump was asked over the weekend about a possible recession happening this year,” Bolduan said. “He was not 100% confident that he could stave off a recession in 2025. If that is the risk that he is running with this kind of whiplash and environment of business uncertainty while prices go up, is that a risk you think is worth it?”
“Well, there’s been talk about a recession for well over the past year. This is something that has been a threat going back to the Biden Administration. We were anticipating some type of recession and slow, slow growth,” Malliotakis responded. “Why? Because of a lot of the inflationary spending, a lot of the dismantling of energy policy in this country that really drove up the cost of doing business, I think. And also the regulations that the Biden Administration have put in place. So I think that we have a real opportunity here to stop the recession that was supposed to be coming for the past year.”
Bolduan interrupted to claim that people are saying an upcoming recession would stem from Trump’s policies, not Biden’s.
“You can’t disregard the damage that the Biden Administration did to our economy with their regulations, with their inflationary spending, with the interest rates that have skyrocketed because of his policies,” Malliotakis retorted. “You can’t negate that.”
The congresswoman also said if Republicans are successful in their efforts to make the government more efficient and extend Trump’s first-term tax cuts, that could help prevent the U.S. economy from decelerating. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich similarly warned March 3 that extending the tax cuts could be crucial to stopping a looming recession.
“You got to remember, President Trump has already brought in $2 trillion in private investment. He’s only been in office for a month,” Malliotakis added. “Every other week, we’re hearing about a new company that is repatriating, manufacturing or expanding operations here in the United States, whether it’s a foreign entity or a domestic company like Apple.”
“And so I think that we can certainly prevent this. And we should. And we should keep an eye on those tariffs to make sure that it doesn’t have a negative effect,” she continued. “But there are a lot of other pieces to this. Oil prices are coming down. Inflation is coming down. And those are very important indicators as well.”
Bolduan responded by alleging Target and Best Buy “said last week that prices are going up in direct relation to the tariffs.” However, they actually said that prices are anticipated to rise due to the tariffs, according to The Hill.
Malliotakis asserted the tariffs have not gone into effect yet, but Bolduan pushed back, saying some of them have.
Trump implemented 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and a 20% tariff on China on Tuesday due to the nations’ role in enabling illegal immigrants and fentanyl to pour into the U.S. However, the president announced that he will delay tariffs on Mexican imports covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) for about a month in a Thursday Truth Social post.
“President Biden actually kept and increased tariffs on China, okay? But Trump came in, a slight change increase there. But these are tariffs that have been in place all through the Biden Administration,” Malliotakis said. “It was a 50% tariff that Joe Biden kept in place, plus an additional, I think, 25% on particular sectors, particularly energy that he had put in place. So, I mean, you want to blame President Trump for — he’ s been there for one month. He never imposed those tariffs that he said he would on Mexico and Canada.”
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