Market Voices: Trump advisor sees tariffs resuming, Musk leaves DOGE

Seeking Alpha’s daily roundup of statements and remarks by newsmakers that could move markets, sectors or individual stocks.

-Trump economic advisor Kevin Hassett, who serves as director of the National Economic Council, said he expects the Trump administration’s aggressive use of tariffs to resume, despite a federal trade court ruling against the initiative on Wednesday.

“The fact is that there are measures that we can take with different numbers that we can start right now. There are different approaches that would take a couple of months to put these in place,” Hassett said in an interview, according to CNBC. “We’re not planning to pursue those right now because we’re very, very confident that this ruling is incorrect.”

-Tesla CEO (NASDAQ:TSLA) Elon Musk bid adieu to his controversial government job as head of DOGE, adding that he expects the cost-cutting initiative to continue after his departure. Under federal guidelines, Musk was considered a special government employee and could only work for up to 130 days, or May 30.

“As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk posted on X on Wednesday night.

-Vice President J.D. Vance said the Trump administration doesn’t view stablecoins as a threat to the U.S. dollar.

“In this administration, we do not think that stablecoins threaten the integrity of the U.S. dollar. Quite the opposite,” Vance said during a speech at Bitcoin 2025 on Wednesday, according to CNBC. “We view them as a force multiplier of our economic might.”

-The Federal Reserve is expecting the job market to weaken amid escalating tariffs, according to the minutes of its policy meeting in early May.

“Participants assessed that there was a risk that the labor market would weaken in coming months, that considerable uncertainty surrounded the outlook for the labor market, and that outcomes would depend importantly on the evolution of trade policy as well as other government policies,” according to the FOMC meeting minutes.