Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent has dismissed concerns about Trump's tariff sales on Wall Street after the White House declared a trade war with Canada, China and Mexico that surprised investors.
Bescent said Fox and friends The commander's top priority is to live the standard of living of ordinary Americans despite market concerns over his move to slap the tariffs of three of the country's major trading partners.
“In the medium term we're focusing on Main Street. Wall Street is great and Wall Street can keep going well, but we're focused on small businesses and consumers,” the former hedge fund mogul said. “So we're going to readjust the economy.”
Bessent's comments came hours after taxation was enacted. This led the Tech-led NASDAQ index fell nearly 2% in morning trading, down 10% from its December 16th record high.
He dismissed the warning from the Federal Reserve that it would simply increase inflation in the long run, pointing to the decision of automobile manufacturer Honda to shift from Mexico to Indiana to dodge tariffs.
“In China's tariffs, we are sure that Chinese manufacturers will eat the tariffs. Prices will not rise,” Bescent said. “I think in Canada and Mexico we are in the middle of a transition.”
Trade between the US and the three countries is worth an estimated $2.2 trillion. But Trump accused them of not doing enough to stop the fatal fentanyl flow into the country.
In a free market report, Peterson Institute for International Economics warned last month that tariffs could cost each American household an average of $1,200.
China quickly responded by taking its own punishment measures and announced that it would strike certain US imports with a 10%-15% tax from March. 10.
Bessent, the 62-year-old founder of Key Square Group Investment Firm, has picked up a decline in the cost of paying off a mortgage as one of Trump's big wins since returning to the White House six weeks ago.
“It's one of the biggest wins for Americans since Election Day and since taking office, since mortgage rates have dropped dramatically,” he said. “The bottom 50% of Americans over the past two years have been crushed by these high interest rates.”
On Thursday, the 30-year mortgage rate fell to its lowest level in two months, reaching an average of 6.76% in Freddie Mac's weekly mortgage market survey from the 6.85% level the previous week.
They reached a 10-year high in the Biden Harris administration and peaked at 7.79% on Thursday, October 26, 2023.
