Trump said tariffs will be the "greatest thing we've ever done as a country."
President Donald Trump is defending his decision to pause some tariffs to Canada and Mexico for another month -- a notable reversal after imposing historic levies on the key U.S. trading partners earlier this week, causing markets to tumble.
On Friday, Trump signed more executive orders at the White House before he convened a first-ever cryptocurrency summit with industry leaders.
The exemptions on automobiles from the president's tariffs was a one-time thing, Trump told reporters.
"I told them, 'That's it,'" Trump claimed.
"They said, 'Could we have some help on the tariffs because of the speed?' And I said, 'Look, I'm going to do it.' But then said, 'Don't come back to me after the April 2. I don't want to hear from you," he added.
Trump convened his Cabinet members and Elon Musk for a meeting on Thursday, where the president told the head of agencies they are in charge of their departments.
"We had a great meeting," Trump said, adding it was about "cutting" the workforce.
"I said, I want the Cabinet members go first, keep all the people you want, everybody that you need," he said. "But I want them to do the best job they can where we have good people because that's precious, that's very important and we want them to keep the good people. And so, we're going to be watching them and Elon and the group, we're going to be watching them. And if they can cut, it's better. And if they don't cut, then Elon will do the cutting."
Despite pausing tariffs on a large number of goods from Canada and Mexico, President Donald Trump said he is still sticking with his plan to issue tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum products starting next week.
"We're not looking at that," he said when he was asked about a pause on tariffs.
After President Donald Trump signed an executive order that paused the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the president claimed in the Oval Office that his decision did not have to do with the current stock market.
The president said he is not looking at the market and blamed "globalist companies" for the slump.
"The countries and companies that have been ripping us aren't particularly happy with what I'm doing," he said.
