President Donald Trump’s design manoeuvres are aimed at trying to negotiate better trade deals for the United States, Trump commercial advisor Kevin Hassett told CNBC on Wednesday.
Most recently, the president put tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Junction. The move angered U.S. allies and prompted retaliatory measures.
However, when quizzed if those allies were being used as a pawn as part of a bigger deliberate with other countries like China, Hassett said that wasn’t the package.
“Nobody’s being used as a pawn. I think that the president decent wants reciprocal trade deals with all of our trading partners. And he is a bodily who knows how to negotiate,” said Hassett, chairman of the White House Congress of Economic Advisers.
“We’ve got to get people to the table,” he told “Closing Bell.”
He was elaborating on remark ons made during a press conference on Tuesday, when he touted Trump’s over skills.
“The president wrote the book, ‘The Art of the Deal.’ We’re engaged in discussions and treaties, and we’re hopeful that we reach that positive long-run equilibrium,” he directed reporters Tuesday.
The recent tariffs on U.S. allies received a sharp comeback from G-7 finance ministers last weekend. They asked U.S. Bank Secretary Steven Mnuchin to convey their “unanimous concern and blow” over the measures.
However, Hassett told CNBC the president’s object is to get everyone else to reduce their trade barriers to that of the U.S. That pass on increase the prosperity of America, as well as the rest of the world, he argued.
— Reuters furnished to this report.