House Democrats Zero In on Economy at Post-2024 Retreat

Lawmakers are seeking to counter a signature campaign issue for now-President Donald Trump amid tariff talk and downward trends in the market.

LEESBURG, Va.—Four months after the November 2024 election, House Democrats have gathered at an issues retreat outside Washington. Not long into the second Trump presidency, they’re seeking to define a response to him and Republicans more broadly.

One big theme of that response emerged early on the first day.

Amid new tariffs and fast-changing threats to impose more, as well as downward market momentum, lawmakers on March 12 consistently hit on the state of the American economy—a key issue for President Donald Trump during the campaign, which saw him frequently voice his opposition to “Bidenomics” and, in particular, rising inflation from government debt.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters the United States was entering a “Trump slump.” “We see the stock market is down,” he said.

Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.), co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, said Americans were “watching their 401(k)s go down the tubes” because of Trump’s tariffs.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) went further, saying that Trump and Republicans in the House were “leading us toward a possible recession.” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) echoed that language during the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee press conference, telling reporters that “the r-word” could be on the horizon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index have fallen over the past month, driven in part by tariff and trade war fears. That turmoil may affect Americans’ 401(k) plans, which are made up of varying proportions of stocks and bonds along with other securities.

According to a survey from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, 39 percent of baby boomers anticipate relying on 401(k)s and similar retirement plans for retirement income.

After Trump did not rule out a possible recession on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, stock markets seemed rattled.

“What we’re doing is very big. We’re bringing wealth back to America,” Trump said. “That’s a big thing. … It takes a little time, but I think it should be great for us.”

He then said on March 11 that he wasn’t concerned with the weekend market selloff and rejected the notion that a recession could be on the horizon, doubling down on his view that tariffs will result in future prosperity for the nation.

“The markets are going to go up and they’re going to go down, but what we really have to do is rebuild our country,” Trump said.

Twenty-five percent tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel came into effect on March 12.

On March 7, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNBC that “there’s going to be a detox period” in the American economy as government spending ebbs.

Even as concerns over a potential recession grow in some quarters, an analysis of S&P 500 companies’ fourth-quarter earnings calls found that recession fears were the lowest since the first quarter of 2018.

Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), the assistant Democratic leader, said Trump’s early record at the helm included job losses.

The economy gained 151,000 jobs in February, slightly below expectations, while the unemployment rate increased slightly from 4 percent to 4.1 percent. That is slightly lower than it was in November, the month Trump won reelection, when it stood at 4.2 percent.

Gallup’s measure of Americans’ economic confidence remained in the same negative territory from January through February, hovering at minus 19. That’s down from minus 14 in December, but up from minus 26 in October, just before the election.

Jeffries spoke about inflation worries spurred by tariffs and the threat of more. Inflation cooled in February, dropping to 2.8 percent. March numbers may show whether tariffs change that trend.