Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

ATLANTA (AP) — Trump administration officials were out in force across the television networks Sunday defending President Donald Trump’s economic policies after another week of reeling markets that saw the Republican administration reverse course on some of its steepest tariffs.

White House advisers and Cabinet members tried to project confidence and calm amid Trump’s on-again, off-again approach to tariffs on imported goods from around the world. But their explanations about the overall agenda also reflected shifting narratives from a president who, as a candidate in 2024, promised an immediate economic boost and lower prices but now asks American businesses and consumers for patience.

A week ago, Trump’s team stood by his promise to leave the impending tariffs in place without exceptions. They used their latest news show appearances to defend his move to ratchet back to a 10% universal tariff for most nations except China (145%), while granting exemptions for certain electronics smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-panel monitors and semiconductor chips.

Here are the highlights of what Trump lieutenants said last week vs. Sunday:

There are varying answers on the purpose of the tariffs

Long before launching his first presidential campaign in 2015, Trump bemoaned the offshoring of U.S. manufacturing. His promise is to reindustrialize the United States and eliminate trade deficits with other countries.

LAST WEEK

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, interviewed on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” played up national security. “You’ve got to realize this is a national security issue,” he said, raising the worst-case scenarios of what could happen if the U.S. were involved in a war.

“We don’t make medicine in this country anymore. We don’t make ships. We don’t have enough steel and aluminum to fight a battle, right?” he said.

SUNDAY

Lutnick stuck to that national security framing, but White House trade adviser Peter Navarro focused more on the import taxes being leverage in the bigger economic puzzle.

“The world cheats us. They’ve been cheating us for decades,” Navarro said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He cited practices such as dumping products at unfairly low prices, currency manipulation and barriers to U.S. auto and agricultural products entering foreign markets.

Navarro insisted the tariffs would yield broader bilateral trade deals to address all those issues. But he also relied on a separate justification when discussing China: the illicit drug trade.

“China has killed over a million people with their fentanyl,” he said.