00:00 Speaker A
Treasury Secretary Scott Besent calling China’s retaliatory tariffs on the US unfortunate this morning. That’s as China levies an 84% tariff on the US. Set to take effect April 10th in response to President Trump’s 104% total import tax. Joining us now from Washington with the latest commentary from the Treasury on trade policy we’ve got, Yahoo Finances own Jennifer Shawburger. Good to see you, Jennifer. What do we know?
00:34 Jennifer Shawburger
Good morning, Brad. Great to see you as well. Treasury Secretary Scott Besent speaking in Washington this morning says the level on reciprocal tariffs which kicked in this morning serve as a ceiling for countries who do not retaliate. He reiterated that 70 countries have lined up to talk to the United States and joked that he does not have any plans to go anywhere for Easter. He says he believes that the US can forge deals with US military allies and that perhaps together as a group could approach China to try to cut a deal. The Secretary said he thought he had heard from Spain that that country was looking to potentially realign with China. He said that that would be cutting off their own throat. Now separately speaking in an interview with Fox Business this morning, the Treasury Secretary did comment on the unwinding and massive selloff of US Treasuries, saying that it was just normal deleveraging, not anything systemic and certainly not China selling US Treasuries. He also warned about China devaluing its currency. He says if the world’s second largest economy continues to do that, then that means tariffs will need to be ratcheted up higher. He also did not rule out delisting Chinese companies from US stock exchanges. Now, back to the Secretary’s comments at the American Bankers Association this morning, he was asked about the state of the economy and said, quote, “I think we’re in pretty good shape,” though he warned that not extending the tax cuts and passing a tax bill would result in recession. He also noted this morning that he is proposing a litany of new ideas to try to tailor regulations for small and community banks to promote lending and economic growth in this economy. Back to you.
03:19 Speaker A
Jennifer, thank you so much.