President Donald Trump acknowledged that his sweeping tariff program had risked imperiling him politically, but said he would not rush deals to appease nervous investors during a town hall on Wednesday.

“Yeah,” Trump said when asked by NewsNation host Bill O’Reilly if he agreed that his tariff proposals had a perception problem. “But I’m a honest guy, and we have to save the country.”

Trump went on to agree there was a significant political risk to his efforts, and that they could result in Republicans losing control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections if those perceptions don’t change — but said he remained determined to push on.

“I just think that I’ll be able to convince people how good this is,” Trump said.

Trump spoke after a Bureau of Economic Analysis estimate showed that the U.S. economy contracted at the start of the year for the first time since 2022, led by a surge of pre-tariffs imports and a reduction in government spending. That read, paired with an ADP Research report showing smaller-than-expected hiring in April, prompted a volatile day on Wall Street.

Many investors are eager to see progress in trade talks, with Trump and aides pledging to quickly execute marathon negotiations with dozens of trading partners. Trump said he had “potential deals” with South Korea, Japan, and India but that he was “in less of a hurry” than those expressing anxiety over the economy.

“We are sitting on the cat bird seat. They want us. We don’t need them,” Trump said, adding that India wanted to “make a deal so bad.”

China ‘chance’

Trump also said that while there was a “very good chance” he would strike a deal with China, “we’re going to make it on our terms and it’s got to be fair.”

Yet the U.S. and China are not having official trade talks yet, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a Fox News interview Wednesday.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a CNBC interview that it’s up to China to take the first step in de-escalating the tariff fight with the U.S. due to the imbalance of trade between the two nations.

However, Trump’s administration has been the one seeking contact with Beijing to initiate talks on tariffs, according to a Chinese state-run media outlet.

When O’Reilly said that he’d heard some deals with other nations had been essentially agreed, and that their announcements could prompt a surge in stock prices, Trump said they were “potential deals,” then said, “that’s OK, it can wait two weeks.”

‘Dodge and move’

Despite Trump’s bravado, the president acknowledged his tariffs were difficult to explain because his approach demanded that he had to stake an extreme position to strike a deal, only to pull back as part of talks.

“You can’t just be hard line, and I’m going to run right through a wall and I’m never going to go over it or around it, I’m going to go straight — you have to be able to dodge and move,” Trump said.

Aides have worked to signal to Wall Street that negotiations were proceeding apace. Earlier Wednesday, Greer said he believed the U.S. was nearing an announcement of a first tranche of trade deals

“I would say that we have deals that are close,” Greer said Wednesday in an interview with Fox News. “As a negotiator, I don’t like to negotiate in public, but I will say we’re talking about a matter of weeks and not months, to have some initial deals announced.”

Greer said he was not “finish line close” with negotiations with India, but said he had a standing call with the country’s chief trade negotiator. He added that he would be meeting with South Korean negotiators “pretty soon” and that those talks were “going in the right direction.”

The trade representative said he also planned to meet with Japan, Guyana and Saudi Arabia on Thursday, with an additional meeting with representatives from the Philippines on Friday. Other administration officials have indicated that a deal with Asian trading partners who immediately engaged with the administration were likely to be the first to be announced.

Greer also said newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was a “serious person” and that the representative’s office was at the ready to engage in trade negotiations. Carney is expected to visit with Trump in the near future.

The U.S. president spent much of the day defending his economic agenda and attempting to cast blame for the GDP contraction at the feet of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

“This is the Biden economy,” Trump said Wednesday before adding, “we’ve had a lot of things happen since November 5 that helped this economy.” He was speaking at an event with dozens of corporate executives at the White House intended to highlight investments in the U.S. economy made during his first 100 days in office.

The S&P 500 has fallen more than 8% since Trump took office, and consumer confidence in April hit a near five-year low. But Trump argued to leaders from General Electric Co., Hyundai Motor Co., Toyota Motor Co., Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly & Co., Nvidia Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp. that his tariffs were inspiring an unprecedented surge in domestic investment.

“Every new factory and every new job created is a sign of strength in American economy and a declaration of confidence in America’s future,” Trump said at the event.

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(With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron, Romy Varghese and Daniel Flatley.)

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