(NewsNation) — Former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly says President Donald Trump needs to personally reassure Americans suffering from the economic impact of his recent tariff policies, as markets react to the aggressive trade stance against China and other nations.
“The problem is that people are feeling pain. The American public is feeling pain. And whenever that happens, the leader of the country has to reassure in a personal way, and I don’t think Donald Trump has done that yet,” O’Reilly said Monday on NewsNation’s “On Balance.”
O’Reilly urged Trump to address Americans directly about economic concerns resulting from his trade policies: “He hasn’t looked into the camera and said, ‘Look, I know you’re suffering. I know your hard-earned dollars are not what they were on paper a month ago, and I know it’s because of me, but stay with me here.'”
While praising Trump’s availability for press conferences, O’Reilly criticized the president’s lack of empathy during what he described as a “blindside” to markets, noting that “panic turns into anger, and people feel helpless, they feel trapped, they feel they weren’t informed.”
Despite his criticism, O’Reilly compared Trump’s trade approach to Ronald Reagan’s policies and expressed hope it would succeed, suggesting Trump has until April of next year to show results.
He described the situation with China as a “throwdown” addressing longstanding trade imbalances, claiming the United States sends $300 billion more to China annually than China sends to the U.S.
O’Reilly characterized China as “the worst cheaters on the planet” who are using U.S. dollars from trade deficits to build their military but acknowledged there would be “no winner in this trade war.”
