Key test for President Donald Trump's tariff campaign: unifying team behind his strategy
President Donald Trump said this week that there will "always be transition difficulty" tied to a new economic plan. Credit: Getty Images/Anna Moneymaker
Over the next three months President Donald Trump and his economic team are planning to renegotiate dozens of foreign trade deals, an undertaking that business leaders say will require the president’s team to project unity or risk further roiling the economy.
Since taking office Trump’s cabinet and top officials have usually acted in lockstep, but Trump’s tariff gambit has emerged as a divisive part of his second term agenda, pitting top officials against one other in a manner unseen since his first term when a revolving door of top aides competed for his attention.
During the weeklong period between Trump’s global tariff launch and his declaration of a 90-day pause, his top economic advisers gave conflicting messages about the longevity of Trump’s plan and his willingness to negotiate new trade deals, all as two key advisers — Peter Navarro and Elon Musk — engaged in a public spat over tariff strategy.
Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.
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