STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The president has made more remarks leaving people wondering what he really meant.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This time, it was an interview on NBC's "Meet The Press With Kristen Welker." The president celebrated the tariffs that he regularly changes. He said they could be permanent, although he's claiming the power to impose them by saying there's an emergency. He also said, I don't know, when asked if he needs to uphold the Constitution.
INSKEEP: NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid was listening. Good morning.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So what exactly did the president say about the Constitution on NBC?
KHALID: Well, the context for this was a series of questions about whether noncitizens in the U.S. deserve due process. The president believes - frankly, he has a mandate, he thinks, on immigration and said if you talk about due process for people who are not in the country legally, you'd have to deal with millions of trials. And he was pressed on this by the show's moderator, Kristen Welker.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KRISTEN WELKER: Even given those numbers that you're talking about, don't you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States, as president?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don't know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me. And they are going to, obviously, follow what the Supreme Court said.
KHALID: The backdrop to this is the high-profile case of a man who was sent from Maryland to El Salvador, despite a court order saying he should specifically not be deported there. The Supreme Court has called on the U.S. government to facilitate his return, but thus far, he remains in El Salvador. And one last related point, Steve, here is that last night, Trump said he's ordering the federal government to reopen and rebuild one of America's most notorious prisons, Alcatraz. He told reporters he wants to do this because of radical judges who've been insisting on due process for people in the country illegally, though we should remind folks this prison, Alcatraz, is now a tourist attraction. It actually hasn't operated as a prison in decades.
INSKEEP: Yeah, it had to be closed because it was falling apart. Did the president make any news on the economy, Asma?
KHALID: You know, there were a couple of things that caught my ear, particularly when the moderator asked the president if tariffs are here to stay for the long run.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WELKER: You're not taking the possibility that these tariffs could be permanent off the table - some of them.
TRUMP: No, I wouldn't do that, because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?
KHALID: At one point, Trump also seemed to say that he'd be OK with a short-term recession because he believes the economy will be fantastic in the long run. But his optimism does not match economic data or consumer sentiment at this point.
INSKEEP: We're getting to the contradiction of the entire tariff policy, aside from the legality of whether it's even legal, what the president is claiming to do on a permanent basis now. He likes tariffs. He wants permanent tariffs. He also talks about negotiating away the tariffs in exchange for other benefits. Is the administration trying to make deals?
KHALID: I mean, the president told reporters on Air Force One yesterday that there could be some trade deals this week. But at the same time, Steve, he also suggested that this broad tariff dynamic is not an actual negotiation. He said, at the end of the day, he will set the terms of these tariff deals because he sets the deals. Other countries do not. You know, tariffs are key to the president's economic vision. In fact, just last night on social media, he announced plans for yet another tariff - this time, a 100% tariff rate on movies produced outside of the United States. You know, one last thing to note, Steve, is that this week, Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, is coming to Washington. It is a high-stakes meeting to watch, given Trump's threats of tariffs and, of course, annexation toward the United States' northern neighbor.
INSKEEP: NPR's Asma Khalid, with reporting and analysis made right here in the United States. Asma, thanks so much.
KHALID: Good to speak with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
