Megyn Kelly thinks Trump will declare his tariff plan a success ‘no matter what’ amid global shockwaves

WASHINGTON, DC: As President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff plan rattles global markets and drives US equities into a steady decline, conservative commentator and podcast host Megyn Kelly is calling for calm and patience.

"He's asking everybody to be a little patient. I think given the guy's success in the first term, economically, we should give it to him," Kelly told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview.

Trump announced "reciprocal" tariffs on dozens of countries on April 2, Wednesday. These tariffs are expected to raise the cost of goods shipped annually to the US from other countries. It could also ignite a global trade war, marked by tit-for-tat strikes that destabilize supply chains and stoke inflation.

Megyn Kelly defends Donald Trump’s tariff plans

Megyn Kelly believes Donald Trump’s economic track record, particularly during his first term before the Covid-19 pandemic, warrants public trust.

"He's earned the right to our patience and I'm prepared to provide it," she said, referencing the pre-pandemic era marked by low inflation, low unemployment, historic wage growth, and an all-time low US poverty rate.

Even as financial markets continue to tumble, with losses every day since April 2, when Trump unveiled his tariff plan on what he labeled "Liberation Day" — Kelly sees early signs of promise.

Citing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Kelly pointed to nearly 70 countries engaging the US to renegotiate trade deals, including the European Union, which floated a "zero for zero" proposal on cars and industrial goods.

She also spotlighted the positive reaction from Gulf Coast shrimpers, who have struggled to compete with cheaper imports. Trump’s tariffs, she says, are helping revive their industry.

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum’s crackdown on fentanyl trafficking was also praised by Kelly as a byproduct of Trump’s hardline trade stance, "[Sheinbaum is] trying to crack down on the number one killer of young people in America... that's good news."

Megyn Kelly blasts media elites for ignoring working class

Megyn Kelly says much of this hopeful news isn’t being covered, thanks to a media elite more concerned with their portfolios than policy.

"It's all Acela media that's watching their own stock portfolios go down precipitously, and that's one less square foot in the Hamptons," she quipped.

She didn’t hold back on the media’s disconnect with working-class Americans either.

"I can't really think of many reporters who make it their mission to go and speak to the working class and see how their lives are," she said. 

"One of those people became Vice President of the United States [JD Vance] and he's Trump's closest advisor," Kelly noted.

Megyn Kelly says Donald Trump won’t risk losing his rich friends over tariffs

Though Donald Trump himself is a billionaire, Megyn Kelly argued that his connect with America’s working class has always set him apart.

"Behind me were all these guys in hard hats and the neon vests, you know, men who work with their hands, who get their hands dirty for a living every day… They were told by Hillary [Clinton], by Joe Biden, by Barack Obama, learn to code... They don't want to code," said Kelly.

"They're men with testosterone running through their veins. They want to get dirty and build things… and Trump gets that," she added.

But even Kelly conceded that there are limits to Trump's patience.

She said, "Trump, in his soul, is a rich guy with rich friends who loves rich people and successful American stories. So the last thing he wants is to lose his entire base of rich friends because he's devastated their fortunes with this move."

If the economic picture doesn’t improve within the next six to ten months, she predicted Trump will pivot.

"I do think to judge whether the tariffs have been a success or a failure, we will need to look beyond Trump… I think Trump will declare them a success no matter what, and we'll need to have objective economic indicators," she said.

Kelly suggested this policy is about something deeper than short-term polling or market reactions.

"Trump was elected in large part because he has not forgotten about the forgotten man... For Trump, for better or for worse, it's mostly about Trump, and I think he's doing what he thinks is right and what he promised he would do, and something that has been a lifelong core principle of his," she explained.

Beyond politics, Kelly is carving out a powerful media platform.

After launching 'The Megyn Kelly Podcast' and a live show on SiriusXM, she recently announced the formation of MK Media, her own video and audio podcast network.