Global stock markets tumbled on Monday, the day after President Donald Trump told reporters that he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that his trade policies could cause an economic recession this year.

Will there be a recession in the United States, and around the world, and if so would the aggressive tariff policies that are part of Trump’s MAGA plans be the cause?

That’s our Question of the Week for readers.

The S&P 500 closed Monday down 2.8%, with Wall Street suffering its biggest daily decline after what was already a three-week downward trend. The financial index is approaching a technical correction, meaning a drop of more than 10%.

The losses, which occurred across all market indexes, came after Trump said in an interview Sunday that the U.S. economy would undergo “a period of transition” because of his tariff policies. and refused to rule out a recession. “I hate to predict things like that,” Trump said of the recession possibility. But: “There is a period of transition because what we’re doing is very big.”

With his tariff program, both in threats and in imposition, is the president playing fast and loose with the American economy, or is it a long-term investment in returning manufacturing to our shores?

In the short term, U.S. investors are clearly wary. “President Trump’s comments not necessarily taking a recession off the table unnerved investors who were already unnerved,” Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise, told CNN.

Wall Street leaders say they are concerned that new trade policies with Mexico, Canada and China might easily lower both consumer demand and corporate investment.

Are the administration’s tariff policies just the medicine the U.S. economy needs to take to emerge stronger in the future? Do you think that the president is right to stay the course even if it temporarily roils markets, in which so much of Americans’ retirement investments reside? If there were to be a recession, would it be a long one, or relatively short and sustainable? Would there be pushback from the so-far loyal GOP?

Email your thoughts to opinion@scng.com. Please include your full name and city or community of residence. Provide a daytime phone number (it will not be published).