Trump presidency raises recession worries

Concerns are rising that a Donald Trump presidency could sink the U.S. economy.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman on Friday said Trump’s policies would grow the debt and deficit, and could push the economy into a recession.

{mosads}”His plan to put on a 35 percent tariff for goods imported into the United States from Mexico and China would sink this country into a recession,” Whitman told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

“It would penalize global companies who are trying to be competitive globally,” she added.

During a rally in Portland, Maine, on Thursday, Trump reiterated his plan to slap a 35 percent tariff on goods coming into the United States from Mexico and China, specifically targeting U.S. companies that move their operations overseas and want to import their products back to the U.S.

The GOP presidential front-runner argued that he would greatly improve U.S. relationships with Mexico and China while lowering trade deficits.

“I think he doesn’t fully grasp the law of unintended consequences of what seems like a silver bullet, a quick fix,” Whitman said.

“There are no silver bullets and quick fixes to our problems in the United States.”

Whitman said any move like that would make goods more expensive for U.S. consumers and likely cost American jobs.

“We have to be able to export our goods freely we can’t be in a trade war,” she said.

On Thursday, Trump said he would nix all existing free trade agreements if he wins the White House.

“I’m going to rip up those trade deals, and we’re going to make really good ones,” Trump said.

Whitman said Trump’s refusal to overhaul entitlement programs such as Medicare would increase the national debt and deficit, which is “not good for American families and American workers.”

She called Trump a “dishonest demagogue” and pointed to his scathing comments about women, Muslims, reporters and the disabled as proof.

“The country needs a thoughtful, experienced leader with the temperament to unite the American people, and Trump is not that person,” she said.

On Thursday, Mitt Romney bashed Trump during a speech in arguing that “his domestic policies would lead to recession.”

“If Donald Trump’s plans were ever implemented, the country would sink into a prolonged recession,” the 2012 GOP presidential nominee said.

Earlier this week, Whitman teamed up with several business leaders including Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts and hedge fund manager Paul Singer in an effort to stop Trump’s campaign. 

Last month, Trump tweeted that the Ricketts family “better be careful, they have a lot to hide.”

Ricketts responded that “if we had something to hide, you people would have found it by now.” 

“I have no idea (what Trump was warning of),” he added, according to CBS Chicago.

Whitman was the national finance co-chairwoman for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s failed bid for the GOP nomination.

She ripped into Christie for his endorsement of Trump, calling the move “an astonishing display of political opportunism.”