It’s Donald Trump’s 100th day in office – and the president is disputing polling that shows his ratings have plunged. Meanwhile, the White House has described his second term as “the most historic start in American history”. Listen to the 100th episode of Trump 100 as you scroll.
Tuesday 29 April 2025 14:31, UK
The White House team are “touting their economic achievements” as we reach Donald Trump’s 100 days in office – but there are still many unanswered questions, our US correspondent David Blevins says.
During the news conference, Treasury secretary Scott Bessent claimed the Trump administration had added 345,000 jobs to the economy and said that egg prices were down by 50%.
“But I don’t think we got answers to the big questions, particularly about the global trade war that’s going on between the world’s two largest economies, the US and China,” Blevins says. 
Bessent refused to say whether Trump and Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, have spoken, but as Blevins says: “The president has at least implied in recent days that he’s talking to his Chinese counterpart.”
And when it came to the timing around a trade deal for the UK or the EU, the Trump team said “certainty is not necessarily a good thing for negotiation”, Blevins says.
“They begin this day 100 with much focus on the economy but there are still many questions unanswered,” Blevins adds.
He also notes there was no mention of bringing an end to the war in Ukraine.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent brings the press briefing to a close by talking about businesses returning to the US.
He says business leaders have “gone into a pause” and explains that Donald Trump’s administration is looking to “give them great certainty”.
“I think there’s a very good chance we’re going to get this tax bill done, and the tax bill is going to be very powerful for domestic US investment,” he says.
Bessent also urges business leaders to “bring your factory back”.
“You can fully expense the equipment and the building, we will couple that with deregulation cheap energy and regulatory certainty,” he adds.
“That will continue to make the US the greatest destination for domestic and foreign investment.”
‘Onshoring is not something you can do over 100 days’
Reacting to what we’ve just heard, our security and defence analyst Michael Clarke says “you can’t just decree that this will be the best manufacturing hub in the world if you’ve got higher labour costs”.
Clarke explains that onshoring manufacturing is “less efficient” than doing it offshore.
“You’re deliberately taking on a certain amount of inefficiency to get this benefit of the security, so it’s a balance,” he says.
“Onshoring is not something you can do over 100 days, we’ll look back on it in 10 or 15 years time and say were they successful in onshoring some critical industries in the US?
“The answer is we won’t know.”
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent is asked a question about Amazon’s plans to display the added cost of Donald Trump’s tariffs next to products.
Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt is quick to jump in and says “I’ll take this since I just got off the phone with the president”.
Leavitt slams Amazon’s move and labels it a “hostile and political act”.
“Why didn’t Amazon do this when the Biden administration hiked inflation to the highest level in 40 years?” she asks.
But Leavitt says “it’s not a surprise” after Reuters recently wrote about Amazon partnering with a “Chinese propaganda arm”.
When pushed on whether Jeff Bezos – who was at Trump’s inauguration – is still a Trump supporter, Leavitt says she will not comment on the US president’s relationships.
“But I will tell you that this is certainly a hostile and political action by Amazon,” she adds.
Appearing alongside the White House press secretary at this press briefing is Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, and he begins to take questions now.
He is asked what Donald Trump’s objective with tariffs are after the president said he wanted to replace income tax with tariff revenue – while the administration also says it is seeking trade deals with countries around the world.
Bessent says the aim is two-fold, taking in “long-term tariff revenue” and also securing trade deals.
Next he is asked about the trade war with China and whether the US has spoken to officials in Beijing – but he refuses to say.
He predicts China will cave, saying the tariffs will prove “unsustainable” for Beijing. He adds he has seen statistics showing China could lose 10 million jobs rapidly – and “even if there is a drop in the tariffs that they could lose five million jobs”.
He adds the onus will be on China to end tariffs on the US.
We’re now hearing from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Donald Trump’s 100th day back in the Oval Office.
She’s also flanked by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who will likely be quizzed on where we are with Trump’s tariffs.
Leavitt starts by saying “happy first 100 days” as she greets reporters.
“Today officially marks 100 days of promises made and promises kept by President Trump,” she says. 
“This is truly been the most historic start to a presidency in American history. After building the greatest economy in the world in his first term as president, President Trump is in the process of doing that all over again. 
“The American people trust in President Trump.”
Leavitt goes through a range of Trump’s policies he’s implemented in his first 100 days, and is full of praise for his measures on tariffs.
She describes the US president as America’s “businessman in chief” and says more than 100 countries have already come to the table looking to offer more favourable terms to America.
Fact check: While Leavitt is hailing Trump’s first 100 days, the polls tell a different story.
We told you earlier how polling from Pew Research shows Trump has a 59% disapproval rating, with the same figure reflected in polling from AP and NORC (see 10.26am post).
A YouGov poll also showed 59% rated his second term as only being fair or poor.
Meanwhile, 25% said tariffs on foreign imports are the biggest mistake he’s made in his first 100 days.
Trump’s tariffs have created uncertainty in global markets and caused the probability of a US recession over the coming year to surge to 45%, up from 25% last month. They have also wiped trillions off US stock markets.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is holding a press briefing to mark Donald Trump’s first 100 days back in office.
She’ll be joined by Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who will likely be asked about one of Trump’s landmark measures over the past 100 days – tariffs.
It’s scheduled to start at 1.30pm (8.30am in Washington) and you can follow along in the stream at the top of this page. We’ll also be providing live text updates.
Donald Trump has woken up on his 100th day back in the White House.
The US president has taken to Truth Social and opted for his usual block-capital style…
We’re expecting to hear from his press secretary Karoline Leavitt and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent in around 15 minutes, while Trump will be holding a rally in Michigan at 11pm UK time.
After the Democrats suffered a bruising defeat at the election, losing control of the Senate after more than three years, attention has now turned to who could take the party forward.
Recent polls show Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s numbers are soaring after drawing tens of thousands of supporters to her rallies with Bernie Sanders.
She’s breaking her own fundraising records and has stormed early polling for potential 2028 presidential candidates.
Other Democrats have (quite literally) been vocal in their protests against Trump’s administration in the past few months.
Al Green was removed from the chamber for shouting at Trump during his Congress speech, while a number of his colleagues held signs reading “lies”, “save Medicaid” and “false”.
Cory Booker even delivered the longest speech in US Senate history to protest against Trump’s administration, lasting 25 hours and four minutes.
Watch part of the record-breaking speech below:
The New Jersey senator, who entered the 2020 presidential race, said his goal was to “uplift the stories of Americans who are being harmed by the Trump administration’s reckless actions, attempts to undermine our institutions, and disregard for the rule of law”.
As Donald Trump marks 100 days back in office, The Atlantic has published an interview with the US president this morning.
The magazine exposed Signalgate after its editor Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a group chat which showed US officials discussing strike plans in Yemen.
Goldberg was invited into the Oval Office and asked Trump about the first moment he realised he could return to the White House.
“I’m a very positive thinker. I was questioning whether or not I would want to come back, but I never thought that I wouldn’t be able to,” the president said.
He described Ron DeSantis as a “hot prospect” on the Republican side, and labelled Joe Biden a “failed president”.
“I thought that maybe I wouldn’t do it, but I thought if I did do it, I’d win,” he added.
“But I never considered it a comeback. A lot of people call it a comeback. Most people, I guess, call it the greatest political comeback in history. 
“I think that’s an honour, but I don’t view it as a comeback. I just sort of view it as: I just keep trudging along.”
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