What stock market drop?

Although the market responded harshly to his tariff announcement, President Donald Trump said Thursday the rollout of his new policy is “going very well.”

A reporter asked the president to evaluate the reception to the tariffs announced Wednesday before heading to Florida for the weekend.

“I think it’s going very well. It was an operation, like when a patient gets operated on. It’s a big thing. I said this would be exactly the way it is,” Trump said.

“We had $6 trillion or $7 trillion coming in to our country, and we’ve never seen anything like it,” the president said.

Trump predicted Thursday’s stock market slide would not be prolonged.

The S&P 500 was down 4.2% in afternoon trading, more than other major stock markets, and at its bottom in the morning was on track for its worst day since COVID struck in 2020. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,394 points, or 3.3%, as of 2:09 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 5.3% lower.

“The markets are gonna boom,” Trump said. “The stock is gonna boom, the country is gonna boom.”

The president said foreign leaders will be ready to negotiate with the United States following Wednesday’s announcement.

“They’ve taken advantage of us for many, many years,” he said. “For many years we’ve been at the wrong side of the ball … it’s gonna be unbelievable.”