TMTPOST -- U.S. President Donald Trump and his team on Thursday suggested openness to making deal on tariffs and strove to play down concerns about market volatility after the U.S. stock market suffered its worst day since 2020 following announcement of the sweeping reciprocal tariffs.

Credit：China Central Television

“I think it’s going very well,” replied Trump when asked about how he thinks hings are going as U.S. markets continue plunging in response to his tariffs announced on Wednesday. “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom,” the president said as he left the White House to fly to one of his Florida golf clubs.

Trump then indicated his tariff plan is forcing trading partners to change their way to take advantage U.S. with their trade barriers. “And the rest of the world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal. They've taken advantage of us for many, many years. And many years we've been at the wrong side of the ball and I'll tell you what, I think it's going to be unbelievable,” said the president .

Trump compared the U.S. economy to a patient who has to undergo an operation. He pointed out some companies in these weeks had made investment commitments totaling almost $7 trillion. “You’ll see how it’s going to turn out. Our country is going to boom,” he said.

Trump made the remark as three U.S. stock indexes closed at least around 4% lower on Thursday. The S&P 500 slumped 4.84% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1679.39 points, or 3.98%, both registering their biggest daily loss since June 2020. The Nasdaq Composite dived 5.97%, logging its worst day since March 2020.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the reaction to the market is “to be expected” and reiterated the U.S. economy is in a “tarnsition period”. The president said he is open to leveraging tariffs to strike any deals with other countries and that would depend on whether these countries had something “phenomenal” to offer in return,  “as long as they are giving us something that’s good.”   

“Every country has called us. That’s the beauty of what we do, we put ourselves in the driver’s seat,” Trump said. He cited TikTok as an example, implying China could be given tariff relief if it help secure the sale of TikTok U.S. business owned by Chinese internet heavyweight ByteDance Ltd. Trump claimed the TikTok sale deal is very close to settle ahead of the April 5 deadline.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance echoed Trump, suggesting the market turmoil is to some extent natural as the country is experiencing “a big transition”. “Look, one bad day in the stock market compared to what President Trump said earlier today — and I think he’s right about this — we’re going to have a booming stock market for a long time because we’re reinvesting in the United States of America,” Vance said in an interview with Newsmax.

Instead of Wall Street, it is the American workers and small business that the Trump administration cares most, Vance noted, adding that “they’re the ones who are really going to benefit from these policies.”

Another Trump’s cabinet member, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Trump is very unlikely to back down from his newly announced tariffs. “I don’t think there’s any chance” that Trump will reverse course, Lutnick said in a CNN interview on Thursday. “This is the reordering of global trade, right? That’s what’s going to happen,” he said.

Lutnick made it clear that Trump won’t “back off”, but then added countries can fix their tariffs and non-tariff barriers. “America’s got to stop being exploited,” Lutnick said. “And you’re going to see America prosper. And then, and only then, will Donald Trump make a deal with each country, when they have really, really changed their ways. Then they go sit with him.”