Former Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who served under former President Biden, said President Trump “stolen the destructive ball.”
“President Trump has inherited a very strong growth economy, the labor market is working very well, low unemployment rates and a prominent record of job creation,” Yellen told CNN International's “One World” on Thursday.
“So we had a very functional economy, and President Trump took a destructive ball to it,” Yellen later added.
Much of Yellen's criticism is centered around Trump's tariffs, which began to slip into stock markets late last week and earlier this week.
The market continued to lose steam until Wednesday when Trump tightened tariffs in China, but implemented a 90-day suspension with his country-specific tariffs on all other trading partners.
That brought the Dow Jones down significantly again on Thursday, but the market rose dramatically.
“I have to ask you, how do you rate how the Trump administration has handled the economy so far?” CNN International's Bianna Golodryga asked Yellen.
“I'm worried that I couldn't give it a passing grade,” replied Yellen.
Trump on Thursday threatened to stop the 90-day moratorium if the country doesn't sign a contract with his administration earlier.
“We can't do the deal we want to make, or we have to make, that's good for both parties – that's good for both parties – and we'll go back to where we were,” Trump said at the cabinet meeting.
Oka reached out to the White House for comments.
