Donald Trump said he couldn’t promise that the tariffs he planned to put on key U.S. trading partners wouldn’t make prices go up for American consumers. He also said that some of his political opponents and government officials who were pursuing legal cases against him should be jailed.
The president-elect talked about a lot of things in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday. He talked about immigration, health care, abortion, and the role of the United States in Ukraine, Israel, and other places.
Trump often said things that were true but also had caveats. For example, he once said, “Things do change.”
Here are some of the topics that were talked about:
Trump isn’t sure if trade charges could make prices go up.
Trump has threatened broad trade penalties, but he didn’t think economists’ predictions that higher costs for American companies to import goods would cause prices for consumers to go up in the U.S. He didn’t say for sure that people in the U.S. wouldn’t have to pay more when they shop.
“I can’t promise anything.” “I can’t promise tomorrow,” Trump said, which seemed to leave the door open to accepting how import taxes usually work once the goods reach stores.
This is different from how Trump usually talked about his campaign in 2024, when he said that he would stop inflation if he won.
Trump said that tariffs are “going to make us rich” in the talk, which was a general defence of tariffs.
As promised, he will put 25% taxes on all goods coming from Mexico and Canada on his first day in office in January if those countries don’t stop illegal immigration and the flow of drugs like fentanyl into the United States. He has also said that he will put taxes on China to help get that country to stop making fentanyl.
Trump said, “All I want is a level, fast, and fair playing field.”
Trump calls for revenge against his opponents even though he says he doesn’t want it.
He said different things about how he would deal with the justice system after winning the election, even though he had been found guilty of 34 felonies in a New York state court and was being investigated for other crimes related to his handling of national security secrets and his attempts to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump told the lawmakers who looked into the Capitol riot by his fans who wanted him to stay in power, “Honestly, they should go to jail.”
He made it clear that he believes he can use the legal system against others, including special prosecutor Jack Smith, who was in charge of the case against Trump for his part in the attack on January 6, 2021. Trump said that he would pardon Trump fans who were convicted for their part in the riot on his first day in office, which confirmed his plan.
When asked about the idea that possible charges could be motivated by revenge, Trump said, “I have the absolute right.” You should already know that I’m the chief of police. I am the leader. That doesn’t interest me, though.
At the same time, Trump pointed out Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who were on a special House committee that looked into the uprising.
Trump said, “Cheney was behind it, as was Bennie Thompson and everyone else on that committee.”
When asked directly if he would order his administration to look into cases, he said, “No,” and it sounded like he didn’t think the FBI would quickly start looking into his political opponents.
At another time, though, Trump said he would let his choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, handle the issue. He told her, “I want her to do what she wants to do.”
Many top Democrats are taking these threats very seriously, even though Trump isn’t always honest. In fact, Biden is thinking about giving blanket, early pardons to protect key members of his leaving administration.
It looked like Trump changed his mind about his campaign promise to investigate Biden when he said, “I’m not looking to go back into the past.”
Soon, immigration will be dealt with quickly.
Trump kept saying that he would close the border between the U.S. and Mexico and use a mass deportation scheme to send back millions of people who are in the U.S. illegally.
He told her, “I think you need to do it.”
He said he would try to end “birthright” citizenship, which means that people born in the U.S. are automatically citizens, even though the Constitution clearly protects this right.
When asked about the future of people who came to the U.S. illegally as children but have not been deported in recent years, Trump said, “I want to work something out,” which suggests he might try to find a solution with Congress.
Trump did say, though, that he does not “want to be breaking up families” of people with mixed legal status. “So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,” he said.
With conditions, Trump agrees to join NATO, but he doesn’t say much about Putin or Ukraine.
Trump said that he would “absolutely” stay in NATO “if they pay their bills.” He has long criticised NATO countries for not spending more on their own defence.
When asked if he would pull out if he wasn’t happy with what his partners said they would do, Trump said he wants the U.S. to be treated “fairly” on trade and defence.
He went back and forth on NATO’s top goal of keeping Russia and President Vladimir Putin in check.
There will be less U.S. help for Ukraine’s defence against Putin’s attack, Trump said. “Perhaps.” Yes, most likely. “Sure,” Trump replied when asked if Washington would help Ukraine less. On a separate note, Trump has asked for a quick end to the fighting.
When asked about Putin, Trump first said that he hadn’t talked to the Russian leader since last month’s election, but then he changed his mind and said, “I haven’t talked to him recently.” Trump said when he was asked, adding that he didn’t want to “slow down the negotiation.”
Trump says Powell is safe at the Fed but not Wray at the FBI.
For now, the president-elect said he has no plans to ask Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to step down before the end of Powell’s term in 2028. While he was running for office, Trump said that leaders should have more control over Fed policy, such as interest rates.
Christopher Wray is the director of the FBI, and his term ends in 2027. Trump did not promise him a job.
“Well, I mean, it would seem pretty obvious” that if the Senate approves Kash Patel as Trump’s pick for FBI chief, “he’s going to be taking someone’s place, right?” when asked about Wray. Someone is the man you’re talking about.
Trump is very firm on Social Security, but not so much on health care and abortion.
Trump said that the work to make the government more efficient, which is being led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, will not put Social Security at risk. He said, “We’re not changing anything about Social Security other than making it work better.” “We’re not raising ages or any of that stuff,” he said.
He wasn’t very clear about abortion or his long-promised changes to the Affordable Care Act.
The Guttmacher Institute, a group that supports abortion rights, says Trump was even less consistent when it came to abortion. He said he would “probably” not take any action to make it harder to get abortion pills, which are used in most terminations of pregnancy today. When asked if he would stick to that stance, Trump said, “Well, I commit.” That is, things do change. I believe they alter.
Trump said again that he had “concepts” of a plan to replace the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which he called “lousy health care.” This was a part of his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10.
He also said that any Trump version would keep insurance benefits for people in the U.S. who already have health problems. He didn’t say how this plan would be different from what’s already in place or how he would make his goal of “better healthcare for less money” come true.
