CNN anchor Richard Quest put his head in his hands as he listened to a montage of President Donald Trump’s lieutenants trying to spin his tariff mayhem.
The CNN International host was subjected to a supercut of Trump’s top advisers defending his levies during One World with Zain Asher and Bianna Golodryga on CNN International on Monday. And despite the tariffs being blamed for the S&P 500’s largest three-day drop since “Black Monday” in 1987, Trump’s big hitters were rolled out to defend them.
As Quest listened to economic adviser Peter Navarro, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick try to reassure the public, the anchor buried his head in his hands.
A laughing Zain Asher pointed out the dejected looking British broadcaster, saying: “Look at his face, his head buried in his hands, literally!”
“And it’s only Monday,” Golodryga quipped, before Quest launched into a passionate rebuke of Trump’s team.
“There doesn’t have to be a recession, says the U.S. treasury secretary. He’s right, there doesn’t have to be a recession!” he barked, referencing Bessent’s comments on NBC. “The only problem is, economic circumstances have now been put in place that most Wall Street economists of senior note say are likely to cause a recession.”
Quest referenced forecasts from Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase that the likelihood of a recession has risen to 60 percent. “You want a trade war? This is what it looks like,” he added.
Richard Quest reacts to the montage. / CNN
He slammed Navarro, Bessent, and Lutnick’s comments as “just hyperbole,” adding that the “reality” is the “disruption” that we are seeing. “But this is the reality, and at some point, ladies and gentlemen, there is so much disruption that the markets simply can’t take it and jobs go, investment stops, and the recession happens,” he said.
The outburst comes after Quest used his shoe to illustrate his point about tariffs during a NewsNight with Abby Phillip broadcast last week.
Quest and MAGA pundit Scott Jennings disagreed on what type of jobs will be drawn to the U.S. as a result of Trump’s levies on dozens of countries. Quest said low-skilled jobs are not what the country needs, taking off his shoe and saying: “Basically, look. Here is a shoe. It’s my shoe, right? It is made in China. You talked about these luxury products. But you take your shoe off and see where it’s made.
“Made in China, made in Vietnam. This is going to be 34 percent more expensive. It’s an ordinary shoe bought in a discount store.”
