Hamza Adam 
President Donald Trump hasn’t even been in office for two months, but some say that’s been enough to send consumer sentiment sliding in the United States.
The University of Michigan’s monthly Surveys of Consumers found that consumer sentiment plunged by more than 10 percent in March from the previous month and that consumer expectations of future economic conditions plummeted by more than 15 percent over the same period.
According to Surveys of Consumers Director Joanne Hsu, “expectations for the future deteriorated across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, labor markets, inflation, business conditions, and stock markets.”
Additionally, she said that “consumers cited the high level of uncertainty around policy and other economic factors” and added that “frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for consumers to plan for the future, regardless of one’s policy preferences.”
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Social media users on X and BlueSky were quick to draw lines between the plunge in consumer sentiment and President Donald Trump’s trade wars that have sent stock markets plunging in recent weeks.
“Oh my god,” wrote former Democratic legislative analyst Alex Jacquez. “Bloodbath of a consumer sentiment print. Falling across all demos, Republicans too. Future expectations in the toilet. People hate the Trump economy.”
“The Trump Slump is upon us and it’s absolutely brutal,” commented economist Lindsay Owens. “These numbers are stunning.”
Economist Diane Swonk feared that the plunge in consumer sentiment was a sign of very bleak economic data to come.
“Sadly, the consumer sentiment figures have a stagflation vibe, which poses a challenge to the Federal Reserve,” she argued. “The current tariffs we saw are so large and staggered that they hit both margins and prices. Tough to tease out which effects are largest until all the shoes drop.”
Over on BlueSky, American Prospect editor David Dayen chided Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for caving to pressure to sign off on the Republican government funding package at a time when Americans are seriously souring on the state of the economy.
CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla noted that the consumer sentiment rating now is the lowest it’s been since November of 2022, which was when inflation was still over 7 percent.
Economics commentator Joey Politano, meanwhile, reacted to the report by joking that “the tariffs will continue until morale improves.”