Tonight on PBS News Weekend, consumer confidence hits a near record low amid worries that President Trump's trade war could fuel inflation and trigger an economic downturn.

Then the Trump administration dismisses hundreds of scientists helping to write a major report on climate change.

And we look back at the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens 45 years ago today.

It was the largest natural disaster in U.S. history. The eruption of Mount St. Helens was much more powerful than any hurricane, any explosion of a nuclear weapon. It was a devastating event.

Good evening. I'm John Yang. Today, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson seemed to acknowledge that President

Trump's tariffs may lead to some prices going up, but downplayed fears that it would fuel inflation.

On CNN's State of the Union, Besson said he spoke with Walmart's CEO

after he announced this past week that the retailer may pass tariff costs along to consumers.

Walmart will be absorbing some of the tariffs, some may get passed on to consumers.

But the other thing that's happening is that inflation is down.

We had the first drop in inflation in four years under President Trump.

This past week, a closely watched measure of consumer sentiments slid to a near-record low, largely on concerns about trade policy.

Ali Rogan spoke about all of this with Aaron Lowry, a personal finance expert,

and author of the Broke Millennial Book Series.

Erin, thanks for joining me.

Let's start with the anxiety that lots of Americans are feeling right now, the R-word

recession, that's being thrown around a lot

in recent weeks. Are we any closer to a recession right now? The situation is we don't actually

know whether or not we are in a recession yet. And part of that is because they can't declare

if we're in a recession until there's enough data to make that determination. The they is the

National Bureau of Economic Research, N-B-E-R, and that's the... in a recession until there's enough data to make that determination. The they is the National

Bureau of Economic Research, N-B-E-R, and that's the organization that determines and announces the

...