US treasury secretary denies Trump tariffs are tax on Americans | Trump tariffs
The American secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, refused to recognize that the radical commercial prices imposed by Donald Trump in the world are taxes on the Americans.
In a new interview on Sunday with NBC host Kristen Welker, Bessent, a former billionaire healing fund manager, rejected the concerns of large American companies, including John Deere, Nike and Black and Decker who have all declared that Trump’s tariff policy will cost them billions of dollars a year.
Addressing Welker, Bessent said: “You take them income calls, and on income calls, they must give the draconian scenario.
He then added: “If things are so bad, why was GDP 3.3%? Why is the stock market at a new summit? Because, you know, with President Trump, we care about large companies and small businesses.”
While the concerns continue to grow on American companies trying to pass the cost of American prices from everyday Americans, Welker asked: “Do you recognize that these prices are a tax on American consumers?” To which Bessent replied: “No, I don’t do it.”
Bessent’s latest interview followed a decision by a federal court of appeal which concluded that Trump had exceeded his presidential authority when he imposed radical rates on dozens of countries earlier this year which have sent shock to the world markets.
The prices have established a reference of 10% for almost all the trade partners of the United States. Trump also imposed so-called “reciprocal” prices imposed on the countries he has accused of unjustly treating the United States in trade. Lesotho, a South African nation of 2.3 million people, faced a 50% rate, while Trump also imposed a 10% tariff on a group of uninhabited islands that houses penguins near Antarctica.
In response to the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Trump administration recently asked the Supreme Court of the United States to cancel the decision.
Speaking about the question of whether the Trump administration would be ready to offer discounts if the Supreme Court governs against the administration, Bessent said: “We had to reimburse about half of the rates that would be terrible for the treasury … There is no` `be prepared ”. If the court said it, we had to do it. »»
Nevertheless, Bessent has remained convinced that the Supreme Court of the conservative major would be satisfied with the Trump administration, saying: “I am convinced that we will win at the Supreme Court. But there are many other avenues that we can take. They decrease the negotiation position of President Trump.
Bessent’s comments have also come to data from the newly published data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which revealed that in August, 12,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost, marking a total loss of 42,000 jobs since April, when Trump made its tariff announcement.
“Are these figures proof that the prices do not produce the manufacturing jobs that President Trump promised?” Welker asked Bessent, to which he replied: “It’s been a few months. And with the manufacturing sector … We cannot get fingers and built the factories.”
Bessent added that he thought that “in the fourth quarter we will see substantial acceleration”.
In addition to a drop in manufacturing employment since April, job offers and hires have dropped 76,000 and 18,000, respectively, according to the Center for American Progress.
According to economists, Trump prices are expected to cost US households $ 2,400 per year while wage growth in manufacturing workers stagnates under the prices.
In August, manufacturing workers won an hourly average of $ 35.50, marking only an increase of 10 cents compared to July, the center reported.
