Connecticut Governor Lamont responds to Trump Tariff Disaster

Summary

Summary of "Connecticut Governor Lamont Responds to Trump Tariff Disaster" – The MeidasTouch Podcast

Podcast Information:

• Title: The MeidasTouch Podcast
• Host/Author: MeidasTouch Network
• Episode: Connecticut Governor Lamont Responds to Trump Tariff Disaster
• Release Date: April 3, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas engage in a timely discussion about the economic turmoil triggered by former President Donald Trump's announcement dubbed "Liberation Day." The episode features Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont as a guest, providing expert insights into the repercussions of Trump's tariff policies on both the national and state economies.

Market Reaction to "Liberation Day"

The podcast opens with the hosts highlighting the immediate negative impact of Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement on the financial markets. They describe the event as more akin to "Annihilation Day" or "Recession Day," pointing out the stark contrast between Trump's optimistic narrative and the actual economic indicators.

Notable Quote:

• Host: "Donald Trump is sending his surrogates on various media platforms. But it's definitely giving off that kind of Baghdad Bob kind of vibe or pink dress lady kind of vibe from North Korea. I mean, they're trying to claim that everything is absolutely great and things are amazing, but the markets would tell you otherwise." (00:00)

The hosts reference Howard Lutnick, Trump's Commerce Secretary, who remains unwavering in his positive outlook despite worsening economic data, including significant job cuts.

Notable Quote:

• Howard Lutnick: "Donald Trump's commerce Secretary, this is great. Everything's amazing. This is what a great day. It's liberation here." (01:12)

Governor Ned Lamont’s Perspective

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont provides a counter-narrative to the administration's optimistic stance. He criticizes Lutnick's viewpoint, stating that the real-time economic uncertainty is a substantial burden on the economy.

Notable Quote:

• Ned Lamont: "I think Howard Lutnick is whistling by the graveyard. I think this incredible uncertainty is a real drag upon the economy." (02:09)

Governor Lamont elaborates on Connecticut's proactive measures to mitigate the impact of potential federal budget cuts. With approximately one-third of the state’s revenue dependent on federal funds, Lamont discusses the strategies in place, such as utilizing reserves to cushion the blow of possible Medicaid cuts.

Notable Quote:

• Ned Lamont: "We have a reserve in case there's a lot of incoming. Let’s say they want to cut $800 million out of Medicaid in our state. We're modeling right now in terms of who gets impacted, what we can do to soften some of those impacts." (02:56)

Impact on Tourism and Local Economy

The conversation shifts to the potential fallout from Trump's attacks on international relations, particularly with Canada and Europe, and the resultant tourism boycotts. Governor Lamont acknowledges regional resilience, noting that Connecticut has seen an increase in tourism over the past three years, largely due to its regional appeal rather than international visitors.

Notable Quote:

• Ned Lamont: "We've had more tourists visiting the state of Connecticut in the last three years than ever before in our history. But most of that is regional." (03:54)

Emergency Measures and Constituent Concerns

Governor Lamont addresses the chaos stemming from abrupt federal cuts, emphasizing the lack of communication and planning. He contrasts this with his own administration's approach of transparency and phased implementation of budgetary changes.

Notable Quote:

• Ned Lamont: "If you can talk to us, say, I'm going to have work rules for Medicaid. Okay, I understand that. And we're going to phase in over the next 12 months and this is what you can expect." (06:20)

He criticizes the administration's practice of making sudden policy shifts without adequate notice, leading to panic and instability among constituents who rely on essential services.

Budgeting and Economic Growth

Governor Lamont outlines Connecticut's commitment to maintaining a balanced budget, differentiating it from federal fiscal policies. He emphasizes investment in growth sectors, such as daycare and child care, to stimulate economic recovery and provide long-term benefits.

Notable Quote:

• Ned Lamont: "We have to have a balanced budget that's very different than the federal level. Unlike a lot of Democrats, I put a big emphasis on growth." (08:11)

Historical Context and Future Outlook

Drawing parallels to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of the 1930s, Governor Lamont warns of the severe and prolonged economic downturn that aggressive tariff policies can precipitate. He underscores the interconnectedness of global trade and the detrimental effects of isolating economic partners.

Notable Quote:

• Ned Lamont: "Probably 2/3 of world trade ground to a halt over the succeeding year. We already were moving into depression." (09:36)

He advocates for collaborative efforts among states to mitigate the adverse effects of federal policies, urging governors to communicate and coordinate responses to soften the economic impact.

Concluding Remarks

In his final statements, Governor Lamont reassures Connecticut residents of the state's preparedness and resilience, while also calling on leaders across the nation to work together in addressing the challenges posed by federal budget cuts.

Notable Quote:

• Ned Lamont: "Talk to your red state governors, talk to your red state congress people. Make sure this is what I'm doing. Let's work together least to soften the blow." (10:49)

The episode concludes with the hosts expressing gratitude to Governor Lamont for his participation and encouraging listeners to subscribe to the podcast for more insightful discussions.

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Key Takeaways

• Economic Uncertainty: Trump's "Liberation Day" announcement has led to significant market instability and one of the highest job cut numbers since the 2008 recession.
• Governor Lamont’s Strategy: Connecticut is proactively managing potential federal budget cuts through careful budgeting and reserve funds, emphasizing transparency and phased implementation.
• Tourism Resilience: Despite international boycotts, Connecticut has experienced an uptick in regional tourism, indicating a level of economic resilience.
• Call for Collaboration: Governor Lamont urges governors across party lines to collaborate in mitigating the impact of federal economic policies.
• Historical Lessons: Drawing from the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, Lamont warns of the severe consequences of aggressive tariff policies and advocates for maintaining strong international trade relations.

Conclusion

This episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast provides a comprehensive analysis of the economic disturbances caused by Trump's tariff policies, featuring expert insights from Governor Ned Lamont. The discussion underscores the importance of strategic budgeting, inter-state collaboration, and the dangers of abrupt policy changes on both state and national economies. Listeners gain a deeper understanding of the multifaceted impact of federal decisions on local economies and the vital role of leadership in navigating economic crises.

Transcript

[Host or Moderator]

As the markets are crashing today as a result of Donald Trump's announcement of what he called Liberation Day, which feels more like annihilation day or recession day. Donald Trump is sending his surrogates on various media platforms. But it's definitely giving off that kind of Baghdad Bob kind of vibe or pink dress lady kind of vibe from North Korea. I mean, they're trying to claim that everything is absolutely great and things are amazing, but the markets would tell you otherwise. Also getting very bad economic data as well today about the job cuts that are coming out. Some of the worst job cut numbers that we've seen in a very, very long time. I mean, really, since the great recessions of 2008, the third highest monthly total on record. I mean, you take a look at what Howard Lutnick is saying, though, and he's telling you, Donald Trump's commerce Secretary, this is great. Everything's amazing. This is what a great day. It's liberation here. Just, just play this clip.

[Ned Lamont]

You're right. In the long term, but in the.

[Host or Moderator]

Long term, we're all dead.

[Ned Lamont]

So how long are we going to have to wait for the benefits to come pouring in?

[Howard Lutnick]

Well, you started hearing it recently when Donald Trump yesterday said we have about $5 trillion of committed investment to America. $5 trillion. That means people are going to start building factories right now. And that means all that construction work begins now that starts to employ Americans. Today you're going to see plants being built, factories rebuilding. All shifts are going to be running hot across America. Now you're going to see employment leaping starting today.

[Host or Moderator]

The data would suggest otherwise. And also factories don't get built in a 24 hour period as much as they'd like to will that into existence. Let's bring in Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. Governor, you have a business background, of course, everybody knows before becoming the governor of Connecticut. What's your reaction just generally to what's going on today?

[Ned Lamont]

I think Howard Lutnick is whistling by the graveyard. I think this incredible uncertainty is a real drag upon the economy. I think investors have spoken. You see that with the market reaction today. People don't know if they should invest or not because they don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. The herky jerky style with the tariffs, just symptomatic of this administration where every day is more incoming and that's bad for the economy.

[Host or Moderator]

Let's talk about your plan. I mean, we can talk for probably, unfortunately hours about the damage that Trump and Lutnick are causing almost every single day with just the Chaos. And it's the new terrible announcement. But what are you doing? I mean, what should Democrats be doing? What's the plan?

[Ned Lamont]

What we're doing in Connecticut is working through our budget as best we can based upon the fiscal 24 numbers. We get about a third of our revenues from the feds, but we have a reserve in case there's a lot of incoming. Let's say they want to cut $800 million out of Medicaid in our state. We're modeling right now in terms of who gets impacted, what we can do to soften some of those impacts. But I got to remind people there's no way the taxpayers of Connecticut could ever make up for all the federal if they pull it back as dramatically as they're talking about.

[Host or Moderator]

How about the impact of tourism on the state? You know, Donald Trump's attacks on Canada and Europe? You know, we're Hearing about the boycott, 75, 80% tourism boycotts from Canada. We're seeing Europe now also kind of joining that movement. Are you seeing things in Connecticut that are, that are worrisome on that front?

[Ned Lamont]

Not so much. I don't think I can blame tourism here in Connecticut on the president. Most of our tourism is the greater region. Look, if you're down in Naples, Florida, Canadians have stopped coming. I know that story here. We've had more tourists visiting the state of Connecticut in the last three years than ever before in our history. But most of that is regional. A lot of that is cars.

[Host or Moderator]

Let's talk about the emergency measures that you talked about a few days ago that may be necessary as a result of these cuts. Can you first just talk more, more broadly about these kind of the Doge cuts, the Trump cuts, the. Are any Social Security administration offices being shut down or services being cut off? What are you hearing from your constituents in the state?

[Ned Lamont]

I'm hearing that Doge says we're just getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse. That's nonsense. All they're doing is pushing costs onto the state we've already had. Well, we get cuts, we don't get any notice. All of a sudden, the portal turns off and they stop paying for daycare, they stop paying for health department services, they stop paying for education. And we have a pretty substantial rainy day fund, about 18% of our budget. So we're able to manage a lot of the smaller items as they come along, at least for the near term. What worries us is the big items. Medicaid could be enormous, and there's no way we can manage that by ourselves.

[Host or Moderator]

No, I Think it's a great point that you make right there. Because, you know, look, you as a, as a business person before being governor, when you roll out something new, you want to try to do it with the least amount of instability, the least amount of chaos. You want to let people know what the plans are. You know, and it's just interesting to hear from you to say, you know, one of the big issues is, is just when Doge happens to make whatever it's going to do, you even as the governor, and I'm sure you're hearing from other governors and maybe talk to that aren't, and it's on a bipartisan basis. It's not just because you're a Democrat. Something hits and then you kind of find out about it as the governor, frankly, the way a recipient of the service who's relying on it in a life or death way would find out because the website is shut down, a portal is closed, and then people are panicking and they're frantic because it's not being communicated. Speak to that chaos.

[Ned Lamont]

If you can talk to us, say, I'm going to have work rules for Medicaid. Okay, I understand that. And we're going to phase in over the next 12 months and this is what you can expect. We think SNAP benefits are going to be trimmed back. Don't do it tomorrow. We'll do that over the next six months. I'm a little different than the senators and congressmen. And every day they just, you know, bang at, you know, President Trump. I also try to work with red state governors. I talk about how Medicaid cuts will hurt my hospitals. It'll really devastate your rural hospitals in Tennessee and Kentucky. Maybe this is an issue we can work, work together on.

[Host or Moderator]

And that's the thing about you. I mean, look, your reputation, always has been. You're someone who wants to do your best to work across the aisle and get things done. If it benefits Connecticut, they're making it awfully hard. When a tariff announcement hits like this. Knowing your background and you're trying to work with it, they ain't making it easy on you. When you have days like today that they call Liberation Day and tank the markets and crash people's pensions and destroy people's lives, it kind of makes it difficult.

[Ned Lamont]

My deal with the legislature here is no surprises. And I wish our deal with the federal government was the same way. It's been a partnership going back a long time. I understand President Trump won the election. There are going to be changes now. Let's work that through. So it's the least harm for people. And by the way, Liberation Day, really the only thing you're going to do is liberate my consumers wallets of about two or three hundred dollars a month. That's what's going to get liberated.

[Host or Moderator]

Tell us briefly about your budget, how you frame things and how you think about things and you know, and is it different than what you're seeing at the federal level?

[Ned Lamont]

Well, we have to have an honestly balanced budget. We have to have a balanced budget that's very different than the federal level. You know, unlike a lot of Democrats, I put a big emphasis on growth. So a lot of the investments we're making are to keep our economy growing. That solves an awful lot of problems. We're making the biggest commitment, for example the daycare and child care in history. I love it because you know, we Democrats like it. It gives kids the very best head start in life. The businessman and me likes it because it allows people to get back to work. So those are the type of investments we're trying to make. And we also have some powder in reserve just to take care of the unexpected as it comes from Washington. These are like unguided missiles that come in every day or two.

[Host or Moderator]

You know, I think you said that, you know, this is again not liberation day. This is tax day. This is just another word for Americans are going to be taxable. What do you expect is going to happen though? I mean we're really in unchartered territories. I mean look, we've seen historically recessions have happened but they're usually not so significant self inflicted and obvious. If you look at Smoot Hawley tariffs back from 1930s, we, we, we know where this ends. It ends in very bad economic places. So what do you think happens and what, what do you, what do you urge Donald Trump and, and, and others to do in this moment right now history?

[Ned Lamont]

You just mentioned Smoot Hawley 1930. Probably 2/3 of world trade ground to a halt over the succeeding year. We already were moving into depression. It made it more severe and longer. And why are we picking fights with our friends? If you want to do more tariffs against Russia, God bless you. But why are we doing Canada? You know I have Pratt Whitney. We make jet engines here in the state of Connecticut. They probably import three or four billion dollars a year of parts from Canada to build our jet engines here in East Hartford. All of a sudden the price of a jet engine is going to go up $200,000. Who is that helping? And by the way we get our fruits and vegetables this time of the year, they all come from Mexico. So, you know, if you want to have a guacamole dip with your chips to watch the Yukon Huskies on Friday night, better buy it soon because it's got a lot more expensive.

[Host or Moderator]

Well, other than cheering on your Huskies, any final words you want to give to the American people right now who are. Who are worried they're seeing the markets, if they even have the fortitude. I don't. To open up that 401. Okay. And even look at it right now, they're worried. So what's your message to the people right now?

[Ned Lamont]

Look, you have a case to be worried. Connecticut is better positioned than most because we had the reserves. But talk to your red state governors, talk to your red state congress people. Make sure this is what I'm doing. Make sure folks know how these changes, these cuts. And they are cuts. They're not just waste, fraud and abuse. These are cuts being pushed on the backs of your state taxpayers. Make sure they know how that will impact Tennessee and Kentucky and Alabama. Let's work together least to soften the blow.

[Host or Moderator]

Governor Ned Lamont is your first time on the Midas Touch podcast and network. We really appreciate you coming on. Hope you come back.

[Ned Lamont]

Then let's do it again. Thanks, everybody.

[Host or Moderator]

Absolutely. I'll root for the Huskies, even though I'm a USC fan. Hit subscribe. Let's they're not. They didn't go that far. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 5 million subscribers. Can't get enough Midas. Check out the Midas+ substack for ad. Free articles, reports, podcasts, daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski and more. Sign up for free [e-mail].