Jon Stewart Roasts Donald Trump for Claiming to Have Made More Trade Deals Than There Are Countries
Donald Trump told Time that he has “one hundred percent” made “200 deals” during his tariff war with the rest of the world, a nice, round number that makes us wonder if he thinks that he's negotiating for all 50 states individually.
This April 29, 2025 marks the 100-day milestone for the second Trump Administration, and the last three months and change in America have been plagued by chaos and uncertainty thanks to the erratic decision-making of our 78-years-senile Commander-in-Chief. As Trump promised, he began his economic agenda by imposing massive tariffs on America’s most important trading partners, measures which those countries met with reciprocal tariffs that caught the Trump administration by surprise, given that there isn’t a single economist among them.
However, during his 100-day interview with the respected magazine Time, Trump rebuffed the suggestion that he has made exactly zero deals with our vital trading partners after launching the tariff campaign, instead insisting that he’s made 200 international trade agreements during his economic world war.
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As Jon Stewart pointed out on The Daily Show, 200 trade deals is an even more impressive statistic than it sounds when you realize that the U.N. only recognizes 195 total countries in the entire world — though, I suppose, Trump never specified that the countries were in this world. Maybe he’s already ceded Mars to Elon Musk.
During the first evening of The Daily Show’s week-long reflection on these first 100 days for their “Trump’s Final Week of His Second First 100 Days” special, Stewart checked in with the lack of movement on America’s anxiously awaited trade agreements that would bring the current tariff crisis to a close. Noting how Chinese officials have denied even returning Trump’s calls as he claims to be close to an agreement with the super power, Stewart called “Bullshit!” on Trump’s Time comments with a quick geography lesson.
“There’s only like 180 countries,” Stewart pointed out. “Unless he’s making a deal with Trinidad and Tobago separately. ‘Alright Turks, you’re settled. No, no, Caicos, not so fast! Back of the line, Caicos!’”
Stewart further skewered Trump’s description of his own bargaining position as President during the Time interview, specifically targeting how Trump said of the trade negotiations, “I own the store, and I set prices, and I’ll say, if you want to shop here, this is what you have to pay.”
“His negotiating skills aren’t the real danger to this country,” Stewart pointed out of Trump’s failure to strike a single trade agreement following the tariff roll-out. “What’s going to f--- us up is his obsession with the concept of the leverage that he has.”
“Trump is so arrogant, he thinks the leverage is his. It’s ours! We the people!” Stewart railed, addressing Trump. “It took the people 250 years of striving to live up to a constitutional republic and rule of law, painstaking equity that you are squandering. That is the crux of American exceptionalism.
“You just want to make us great. That’s a downgrade.”
