On Fox Business, WSJ editor-in-chief says businesses are “floundering” due to Trump's haphazard economic policies
Emma Tucker: Tariffs “are being imposed in a very haphazard way, and that's creating so much instability”
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From the March 13, 2025, edition of Fox Business' Mornings with Maria
MARIA BARTIROMO (ANCHOR): And that's President Trump in my interview which sparked a global sell-off in stocks, setting the week off with real market volatility. Joining me now to talk about that and the other issues of the day is the editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker. Emma, it's great to have you.
EMMA TUCKER (EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, WALL STREET JOURNAL): Thanks very much for having me on.
BARTIROMO: Thank you so much for joining us, and of course we are watching your work and The Wall Street Journal everyday, tariffs have become the dominant conversation, how do you see things.
TUCKER: Well I have to say, you put the cat amongst the pigeons with that interview you did with Trump, last -- it was the weekend. Since then we've been on an absolute roller coaster. Broadly speaking, we saw each other at World Economic Forum in January --
BARTIROMO: Yes in Davos --
TUCKER: In Davos, back then, and you remember the mood then was so upbeat, and American chief execs that were there were all so excited, the talk was all of deregulation, growth, no tax rises, boom boom America, and Europe was absolutely stuck in the doldrums, very unhappy, but it is very interesting how that mood shifted, pretty much since all the tariffs started coming in. I think business realizes Trump is serious about this, but the problem they've got is that they are being imposed in a very haphazard way, and that's creating so much instability. Then along comes your interview, and Trump refuses to rule out a recession, he's talking in a kind of 'no pain, no gain,' kind of way, I think you know chief execs, businesses, they are slightly floundering because they don't know where to look now.
BARTIROMO: Yeah, and one of the main stories in the journal today, 'CEO frustrations with Trump over trade mount in private,' so the president has been speaking to lots of CEOs this week, he was at the business roundtable, and, of course, lots of CEOs told me at the Business Council they are not sure where things are going. What do you think the conversation is in board rooms today, in terms of how these companies are going to adjust to this new policy of tariffs.
TUCKER: Well I think one thing is very clear from our reporting, is that they are reluctant to say anything publicly. I think that story that is about this roundtable of businesspeople, there were some informal polls where chief execs said the stock market has to drop by 20% for them to talk out. So I think they have accepted that the tariffs are here, and what they want to know now is which ones are staying, which ones are going to be dialed back, is there going to be further retaliation. And just before I came on, there was news that Trump is now talking about further retaliation against the EU, the EU retaliated yesterday against the aluminum and steel tariffs. Trump's now talking about putting 200% tariffs on champagne, alcohol, core European products.
BARTIROMO: So do you expect that those prices will go higher? I mean when a company has to pay more for its input, will they typically pass it on to the consumer do you think?
TUCKER: I think eventually they are going to have to, they may not immediately, there may be buffer there that they can absorb these prices but over time inevitably, I think we will see prices for certain goods go up.