US President Donald Trump dismissed concerns from voters, business leaders and fellow Republicans on inflation, foreign policy and the Federal Reserve in a wide-ranging Oval Office interview with Reuters on Wednesday, underlining a governing style that prioritises unilateral decision-making over political consensus.
The 30-minute exchange laid bare the stakes ahead: market confidence, geopolitical flashpoints from Iran to Ukraine, and the risk of Republican losses in the 2026 midterms.
Trump rejects pushback on economy and institutions
Trump waved off criticism over inflation and institutional interference, rejecting a Reuters/Ipsos poll that showed limited public support for taking control of Greenland as 'fake,' according to Reuters.
When pressed on opposition from Senate Republicans and business leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, over a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, Trump responded, “I don’t care,” repeating the phrase when challenged on potential economic fallout.
Trump insisted the U.S. economy was the strongest “in history” and said public scepticism reflected poor messaging rather than policy outcomes, pointing to a binder listing his administration’s achievements.
Iran policy remains deliberately open-ended
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump told reporters he believed Iran’s crackdown on protesters was easing, without citing evidence. In the Reuters interview, he declined to clarify whether military action remained under consideration.
He refused to call for regime change in Tehran and withheld support for exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi as a future leader. “We have to play it day by day,” Trump said, signalling a holding pattern rather than a defined endgame.
Peace efforts face friction in Gaza and Ukraine
Trump acknowledged obstacles to two major foreign policy initiatives. On Gaza, he conceded Hamas had not disarmed—an explicit condition of the ceasefire, casting doubt on its durability. “They were born with a gun in the hand,” he said, according to Reuters.
On Ukraine, Trump again said Russian President Vladimir Putin was prepared to negotiate, but blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for delays, saying “Zelenskiy” was the hold-up. Kyiv has maintained it will not accept peace at any cost.
Context: Previous U.S. administrations tied ceasefire credibility to verifiable disarmament and guarantees; Trump’s admission underscores the gap between announcement and enforcement.
Strong backing for ICE despite scrutiny
Trump expressed sympathy for the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, calling it “a very unfortunate incident,” while backing his homeland security secretary’s hardline stance.
He defended deploying armed federal agents to cities, claiming it had removed “thousands of murderers” from the country—a statement for which Reuters noted no supporting evidence.
Midterms loom over the agenda
Trump acknowledged the historical pattern of the president’s party losing seats in midterms and said Republicans could lose control of the House or Senate in 2026. He framed the risk as psychological rather than performance-based, adding that his policy record should, in his view, blunt electoral backlash.
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