Welcome to Meet the Press now. I am Christy Welker at the end of an historically volatile week that

included massive losses and gains on Wall Street. Historic tariffs and rollbacks, panic and jubilation

in the markets and growing concerns about the stability and reliability of the U.S.

economy. Stocks finished the week on a positive note. The Dow rose

by roughly 600 points. Since the president's so-called Liberation Day tariff announcement last week,

markets are lower by about 5 percent across the board. It comes as the trade war between the

U.S. and China escalated again, with Beijing now ratcheting up tariffs on U.S. goods to

125 percent to levels it says make trade virtually unfeasible with the U.S.

It comes the day after the White House clarified that its tariffs on Chinese imports have gone up to 145 percent.

There are also red flags about the state of the economy coming from the

U.S. bond market and confidence in the U.S. dollar. Today, consumer sentiment, a closely watched

indicator of economic health because of how much the economy is driven by consumer spending plummeted.

It's currently lower than during the Great Recession, and its second

lowest level since the survey by the University of Michigan began more than 70 years ago.

Consumers inflation expectations at their highest level since 1981. White House Press Secretary

Caroline Levitt downplayed those numbers during today's White House press briefing,

urging American consumers to trust in Trump.

Why is American consumer confidence so low?

Look, I think there's a great optimism in this economy.

Great optimism for the American people.

A lot of reason for people to feel optimistic.

The president is, as I just said, trying to renegotiate the global trade agenda that has ripped off the American people for far too long.

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