Trump says he ‘can’t guarantee’ tariffs won’t raise prices and restrict abortion pills: Key takeaways

President-elect Donald Trump said in a new interview that he can’t guarantee American families won’t pay more because of tariffs imposed on some of the country’s biggest trading partners, one of his key campaign promises.

Trump said during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired Sunday that he disagreed with economists who say consumers ultimately pay the price of tariffs. But when host Kristen Welker asked him to “guarantee that American families won’t pay more,” the president-elect responded, “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”

“But I can say that if you look at my – right before Covid, we had the greatest economy in the history of our country. And I had a lot of tariffs on a lot of different countries, but particularly on China ” he said. added.

A tariff is a tax on imported goods that is paid by a business or individual when they import an item from a foreign country. For example, a U.S. company that wants to sell a device made in Mexico would pay the tax. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico.

Trump’s comments came during his first network interview since winning the election in November. Here are the key takeaways from this wide-ranging conversation:

Trump says he won’t restrict abortion pills

Trump said he would not restrict access to abortion pills at the federal level in the interview published Sunday.

“I’m probably going to stick to exactly what I’ve been saying for two years. And the answer is no,” he said. “…things are changing. But I don’t think it’s going to change at all.”

Pill abortion is used in the majority of terminated pregnancies in the United States, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.

The president-elect said during his re-election campaign that abortion is a state issue, and he supported exceptions for rape, incest, and life-threatening medical emergencies.

However, Trump has also often taken credit for appointing three of the Supreme Court justices who played a crucial role in overturning the nation’s abortion protections from Roe v. Wade in 2022. Women of All the country said they were stockpiling emergency contraceptives and abortion pills just in case.

Trump promises to pardon January 6 rioters on his “first day”

Trump also said he plans to begin pardoning rioters from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol on his first day back in office.

“I’m going to look at everything. We’re going to look at individual cases,” Trump said. “I’ll act very quickly…I’m looking for the first day.”

Trump has repeatedly said, with few details, during the campaign that he would pardon those charged in connection with the attack, whom he describes as political prisoners.

According to the most recent figures released by the Justice Department, at least 1,572 defendants have been charged and more than 1,251 have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the attack. Most were fined and given probation or a few months in prison. The longest sentence was 22 years for seditious conspiracy.

Plans to deport all people not legally in the country and ban birthright citizenship

Trump also said the mass deportation plans that have become the centerpiece of his re-election campaign will not be limited to people who are in the country illegally and have committed a serious crime.

“Well, I think it has to be done, and it’s a difficult thing – it’s very difficult to do. But you have to have rules, regulations, laws. They came in illegally,” a- he declared.

Trump recently confirmed reports that he was considering declaring a national emergency and using the US military to carry out mass deportations.

Trump said deportations would focus first on criminals, as immigration controls have done since former President Barack Obama’s presidency. However, he told Welker that the plan was to illegally deport everyone in the country over the next four years.

“We start with the criminals and we have to do that. And then we’ll start with the others and see how it goes,” he said.

More: Trump vows to declare national emergency, use military for mass deportations

Trump said he hoped Democrats and Republicans could reach an agreement to allow so-called Dreamers, people who were brought into the country illegally as children, to stay. He said deporting these people was not a short-term priority.

Trump also reiterated his campaign promise to ban birthright by executive order on his first day in office “if we can,” but acknowledged that might not work. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution states that “All persons born in the United States are citizens” and any executive order unconstitutional would likely be immediately challenged in court.

Amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate as well as ratification by two-thirds of state legislatures.

“We’re going to have to change things. We may have to go back to the people. But we have to put a stop to it. We’re the only country that has this, you know,” he said, although the Les United States is not the only country to grant citizenship to people born within its borders.

Will the United States leave NATO?

Trump said he would again use the threat of withdrawing the United States from NATO, an international alliance between dozens of countries in Europe and North America, as leverage to convince other member countries to spend more for defense.

“If they pay their bills, and I think they treat us fairly, the answer is absolutely I would stay in NATO,” he said. If countries don’t pay their share, he would “absolutely” consider removing the United States from the coalition.

NATO members have committed to spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense. NATO chief Mark Rutte said in November, while congratulating Trump on his victory, that two-thirds of member countries spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense.

Trump says he won’t order an investigation into his opponents – but says January 6 committee members should ‘go to jail’

Trump said he would leave it to the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate people who opposed him. The president-elect has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks and anyone who opposes him should be punished.

But Trump said on Sunday’s show that he would not order law enforcement to pursue committee members.

“For what they did honestly, they should go to prison,” he told Welker, but said he would leave the decision to his nominees to lead the agencies.

Trump’s pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, included in his 2023 book a list of about 60 people, including Obama, current and former federal officials and members of Congress, who he said are part of the so-called deep state and have harmed him or Trump. .

“He’s going to do what he thinks is right,” Trump said. “If they think someone has been dishonest, crooked or a corrupt politician, I think they probably have an obligation to do that.”

Will Pete Hegseth be confirmed?

Trump said he still had confidence in his choice to lead the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, who has faced a litany of allegations including sexual assault and excessive drinking on the job in recent weeks, and who struggled to gain support in the Senate.

“Really. He’s a very smart guy. I know him through Fox, but I’ve known him for a long time. And he’s basically a military man. I mean, every time I talk to him, whatever he wants. we’re talking about, he’s a military man,” Trump said.

He said he had not gotten assurances from senators that Hegseth would be confirmed. Sen. Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will initially vote on Hegseth’s nomination, indicated she does not yet support him.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says he ‘can’t guarantee’ tariffs won’t raise prices: Takeaways