In the evolving landscape of economic policy, Tucker Carlson recently hosted Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to discuss the administration’s new tariff plan and its potential implications for the middle class. As tariffs often ignite heated debates, understanding their consequences is crucial for informed public discourse. In this blog post, we’ll fact-check the assertions made during the discussion, evaluating the validity of claims about the tariffs’ necessity and their expected impact on everyday Americans. Join us as we dissect the details and sift through the rhetoric to uncover the truth behind these significant economic decisions.
Find a fact check of this transcript on CheckForFacts
Transcript:
[00:00:00,000]: Mr Secretary thank you very much for joining us [00:00:02,819]: So we’re at the Treasury Department [00:00:04,059]: The President had a press conference yesterday next door in which he announced a whole new tariff regime global [00:00:12,180]: He’d been promising to do this well for 40 years really [00:00:15,560]: It came not out of nowhere but it was clearly his intent all along as stated but it did rattle people including some of his supporters [00:00:22,879]: So I just wanted to ask you big picture where do you think this leads [00:00:27,420]: Well Tucker and thank you for having me [00:00:30,799]: And as you said the President’s been talking about this for four decades [00:00:34,159]: And this is transformational for the American economy for the American worker and for the new Republican alignment [00:00:43,380]: And it’s a combination of the old and new ideas [00:00:49,360]: Some of the old ideas were put away [00:00:51,439]: I always tell everyone and they don’t want to hear it the original tariff man was Alexander Hamilton [00:00:56,740]: And he used tariffs to fund the new nation and to protect American industry [00:01:02,939]: President Trump has added a third leg to the stool and he uses tariffs to negotiate [00:01:08,180]: But I think this is not unlike I was a freshman in college when Ronald Reagan came in in 1980 and New Day in America [00:01:18,260]: And when I talk to people now and they look back and they look at the Reagan years so fondly yes I remember what it was like [00:01:27,080]: And it was choppy [00:01:28,980]: And the President Very choppy [00:01:30,720]: Very choppy [00:01:31,400]: President Reagan stood the course [00:01:33,360]: And look this is not an invitation but at one point in the early 80s a farmer showed up with a shotgun at the Federal Reserve to kill Paul Volcker for raising rates [00:01:45,800]: So like I said that’s not an invitation for anybody for action but it was a tough time [00:01:53,620]: And then in 1984 President Reagan won reelection with 49 states [00:02:00,819]: And I think they may have even let Mondale win Minnesota just so it wasn’t a skunk [00:02:05,779]: Just to be nice yeah [00:02:07,180]: And that’s what President Trump is doing now [00:02:10,460]: For years the American worker middle class has been eviscerated [00:02:17,279]: American workers have taken it on the chin [00:02:19,500]: And we’re just starting to see some of the research now [00:02:23,380]: We’re seeing research on what’s called the China shock from 2004 [00:02:29,119]: It’s just coming out now [00:02:30,419]: And it’s what you know it’s what I know [00:02:33,220]: But finally academics are saying oh gosh the American workers never recovered from the China shock [00:02:41,240]: What a surprise [00:02:43,080]: And President Trump sensed it 40 years ago but out on the campaign trail starting in 2015 up until last year he has promised the American workers that the old standard of living can come back [00:03:00,000]: And because what we’ve seen over the past at least 20 years since the China shock but more like the past 30 are these massive distributional problems where the coast had done great [00:03:12,339]: Yes [00:03:12,660]: And the middle of the country has just seen quality of life expectancy decline [00:03:21,300]: They don’t think their children are gonna do better than they are [00:03:24,020]: And a lot of people don’t care [00:03:27,139]: And President Trump cares this administration cares [00:03:29,839]: And this is the first step towards realigning that a lot of our trading partners including some of our allies have not been good partners [00:03:39,779]: If tariffs are so bad why do they have them [00:03:43,899]: Good question [00:03:44,339]: Why do they have them right [00:03:45,899]: Or if the American consumer is gonna pay all the tariff then why do they care about tariffs [00:03:51,440]: Right [00:03:51,979]: Because they’re gonna eat them [00:03:54,279]: So I think that this is the beginning of a process [00:03:59,779]: We’re going to re industrialize that we have gone to a highly financialized economy [00:04:06,479]: We have stopped making things especially a lot of the things that are relevant for national security [00:04:14,919]: I think one of the few good outcomes from COVID was we had a beta test for what maybe a kinetic war with a large adversary could look like [00:04:28,459]: And it turned out that these highly efficient supply chains were not strategically secure [00:04:35,600]: So that we don’t make our own medicines that we don’t make our own semiconductors that we don’t make our own ships anymore [00:04:43,839]: So I think if I were to say was there any good outcome from COVID [00:04:50,040]: It woke the world up to these supply chain problems [00:04:54,640]: So economic security is national security [00:04:58,160]: President Trump and I have talked about that a lot [00:04:59,920]: So this is a national security issue that we’re seeing here but it’s also an economic security issue [00:05:07,899]: And it’s to I don’t wanna say redistribute but it is to give working Americans real wage gains and enhance their lives [00:05:22,299]: And I’ve said out on the campaign trail one of my most frequent mottos was Wall Street’s done great [00:05:33,200]: It can continue doing well but it’s Main Street’s turn [00:05:37,079]: It’s Main Street’s turn [00:05:38,359]: And that’s what we saw yesterday [00:05:40,640]: It’s Main Street’s turn [00:05:43,600]: So over the course of my life 55 years Wall Street really has been the commonly recognized measure of economic health [00:05:51,279]: Like how’s the Dow doing [00:05:52,559]: We’ve got entire TV channels devoted to tracking its progress which has mostly been up during the course of my life [00:05:58,579]: So if the equity averages fall if the stock market falls that’s seen by a lot of people as like a measure that the economy itself is in decline [00:06:09,579]: Do you think that’s a fair measure [00:06:12,519]: Look the market goes up and down [00:06:15,239]: Warren Buffett has a saying in the short run the market’s a voting machine [00:06:19,779]: In the long run it’s a weighing machine [00:06:21,720]: And in the long run it’s going to weigh do we have good policies [00:06:25,899]: And in my former business I commented on market structure market ups and downs a lot [00:06:34,799]: I’m trying not to do that [00:06:36,940]: But for everyone who thinks that these market declines are all based on the president’s economic policies I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek [00:06:52,440]: So the so called Mag7 the tech stocks had been doing very well for about 18 months led the market [00:07:01,679]: And I think that there was kind of a real dose of reality in what was going on in AI [00:07:09,000]: And I think US is going to remain the leader in AI but the AI related stocks started coming down [00:07:16,640]: So like if I were to analyze in my old hat and this is the only time I’m going to talk about it my old hat what’s happening with the market I’d say it’s more a Mag7 problem and not a MAGA problem [00:07:29,100]: So it’s a deeper so actually the markets are you’re saying in this specific case with tech stocks are taking like a real measure of the value of companies relative to foreign companies [00:07:40,559]: Well it’s that [00:07:41,940]: But if we look the equal weighted S P even after today’s moves down 4 in the year or in a long term chart you wouldn’t even notice that [00:07:51,799]: And I think the most important thing that we can do that I can do as the Treasury Secretary that President Trump wants to do is put in sound fundamentals for the underlying economy [00:08:04,540]: And if the underlying economy is good if taxes are stable if businesses have predictability if we have cheap and plentiful energy if we deregulate if we treat our workforce well then we’re gonna have a great stock market [00:08:21,040]: Fair [00:08:22,179]: The President suggested in describing his plan for tariffs he said look you could conceivably fund a lot of government with tariffs [00:08:30,859]: And that would suggest that taxpayers fund less of the burden [00:08:35,219]: And so do you expect that these will be accompanied by a congressionally approved tax cut for the middle class [00:08:44,440]: So I just wanna go back for a moment too that one of the things that the tariffs are doing is we are pushing back against other economic systems [00:08:53,979]: So the Chinese have a very different economic system [00:08:57,599]: They have low costs some would call it literally slave labor [00:09:03,080]: They subsidize industry with subsidized loans [00:09:07,280]: They have a lot of non tariff barriers [00:09:09,820]: Your show can’t be shown there [00:09:14,940]: So we’re pushing back against that [00:09:19,520]: And with the tariff income it can be substantial [00:09:23,719]: And if we think like a classical model of tariff income would say if there’s a 10 tariff then the currency would appreciate about 40 of that [00:09:35,820]: So 4 of it then the producer in the other country would eat about 4 [00:09:42,580]: And then the US consumer might have a one time price adjustment of 2 [00:09:48,599]: So in a 10 tariff maybe the consumer pays 2 of it [00:09:56,059]: We saw there’s a study out recently from a group at MIT that shows that with President Trump’s first China tariffs which were approximately 20 the price level went up 0 7 [00:10:08,840]: So to answer your question if we could put on a 20 tariff and have the foreigners pay that and use that money to bring down our government deficit and keep taxes low here that’s a very unique formula that hasn’t been tried in this country for a long time [00:10:29,799]: And do you think but it would require congressional participation to get there to move tax rates of course are set by the Congress so [00:10:35,599]: Well what we’re gonna have now we are in this very odd what I would call betwixt and between between the tariff income and what Doge is doing in terms of the cutting government expenses [00:10:50,179]: So CBO scoring and for 35 years I was on the other side of the wall and I would always oh well CBO says this [00:10:59,059]: And I didn’t really realize that kind of CBO scoring is a lot like Enron accounting that it’s not real [00:11:06,500]: And when you actually look at the real story [00:11:08,859]: But you assumed it was on the outside [00:11:10,580]: Sure well they’re experts [00:11:13,200]: It’s a congressional budget office [00:11:14,280]: It’s a congressional budget office [00:11:16,679]: And they’re well intentioned people [00:11:18,679]: They just have the nonsensical rules [00:11:21,900]: Like think about this when all the scoring’s done over a 10 year window [00:11:27,260]: Yes [00:11:28,130]: So they just assume 1 7 or 1 8 economic growth over the 10 years [00:11:35,280]: And that never moves [00:11:37,200]: Whether you raise taxes or cut taxes doesn’t move [00:11:42,780]: So that’s what like during the campaign when Vice President Harris was announcing all these big tax increases she wanted to do and things like that that the CBO was scoring her very well [00:11:54,780]: And President Trump wants to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent [00:12:02,239]: That was kind of a blowout number because obviously growth’s gonna go up a lot when you cut taxes [00:12:09,919]: So that was a long way of saying we will not get credit for the tariffs in any bill because Congress is not going to legislate it [00:12:21,479]: President’s doing it with executive authority but the money will be coming in [00:12:27,700]: We’ve already taken in several hundred million dollars on the China tariffs from his first term [00:12:33,739]: We take in about 35 billion a year just on the old tariffs not on the new ones [00:12:40,780]: So in the CBO window that’s about 350 billion which pays for a lot of the president’s promises on no tax on tips no tax on social security no tax on overtime making interest deductibility on autos made in the US [00:13:01,179]: And think what the president’s doing here [00:13:03,380]: He is backing into an affordability solution for the bottom 50 of wage earners because they’re the ones who will benefit from all four of those programs [00:13:15,799]: So looking out say a year from now so beginning of next April do you have any sense of how much the US government anticipates bringing in from the tariffs announced yesterday [00:13:27,419]: It’s going to be a moving target but could it be anywhere from 300 billion to 600 billion a year [00:13:36,419]: Sure [00:13:37,780]: Okay so that’s meaningful revenue [00:13:40,080]: Very meaningful [00:13:41,059]: But what will happen with tariffs over time the ultimate goal of the tariffs and the president says all the time bring your factory here [00:13:50,440]: That’s the best solution toward getting away from a tariff wall [00:13:56,020]: So move your factory from China from Mexico from Vietnam bring it here [00:14:03,739]: So what will happen over time we’ll have substantial tariff income in the beginning [00:14:09,979]: Manufacturers will build their factory here [00:14:12,460]: The tariffs will drop but the revenue from the factories from income taxes from all the new jobs will go up [00:14:21,979]: So we’ll be taking it in domestically as the tariffs drop [00:14:27,840]: And why are the tariffs dropping [00:14:29,419]: Because we’re making it here and our trade deficit’s dropping [00:14:34,359]: So you’ve obviously thought this through [00:14:37,000]: You think that the United States has the necessary labor force for this transition [00:14:43,580]: I think we do [00:14:44,780]: I think with AI with automation with so many of these factories are gonna be new they’re gonna be smart factories that I think we’ve got all the labor force we need [00:14:58,719]: And what we are doing on the other side one of the reasons other than my support for President Trump that I came out from behind my desk and I had a pretty good life and I wanted to come out and really tell people that I was worried about an impending financial calamity given the high levels of government spending that were leading to high levels of government debt [00:15:24,619]: So what we are doing on one side the president is reordering trade [00:15:30,900]: On the other side we are shedding excess labor in the federal government [00:15:38,135]: and bringing down federal borrowings [00:15:42,275]: And then on the other side that will give us the labor that we need for the new manufacturing [00:15:48,095]: And we’re going to re lever the private sector [00:15:52,575]: So the private sector in essence has been in recession during the Biden years [00:15:57,675]: And this is an opportunity to right size the federal government and unleash the private sector again because it’s been hemmed down by excessive regulation and it’s been crowded out by the government [00:16:12,115]: Here’s a fact of life [00:16:13,495]: You may not learn until you’re older but I’m going to tell you now [00:16:15,895]: It’s very hard to have a good time if you’re wearing bad boots [00:16:19,455]: In fact it may be impossible and that’s why you need Tacovas [00:16:22,555]: As a matter of fact you don’t just need them you owe them to yourself [00:16:25,955]: Tacovas makes Western boots for everybody ranchers real ranchers lifelong cowboys first time boot buyers and anyone in between [00:16:33,735]: Every Tacovas boot is handcrafted made by hand with over 200 meticulous steps for a broken in feel right out of the box [00:16:42,255]: You don’t have to compromise between looks and quality [00:16:45,455]: You can have them both [00:16:46,735]: Whether it’s a long day or a big night Tacovas are built to last and impressed [00:16:51,155]: You wouldn’t believe the compliments people here get when they wear them out which they do [00:16:55,395]: Right now get 10 off at tacovas com [00:16:57,655]: slash Tucker when you sign up for email and text alerts [00:16:59,995]: That’s 10 off at tacovas T E C O V A S com [00:17:04,955]: slash Tucker [00:17:06,495]: Do you ever think since your job is to part of your job is to forecast the effects of these policies that you have well you’ve got probably one out of six people in this country here illegally maybe 50 million illegal aliens and the president said he wants to deport them [00:17:21,515]: Then you have AI and the projections there are massive labor market disruption fewer people needed [00:17:27,895]: You alluded to that a minute ago [00:17:30,315]: Then you have the tariffs and like we can guess their effect but we don’t really know because we’ve never done it [00:17:35,995]: And then you have the reaction from the rest of the world to those tariffs like there’s so many huge factors that are effectively unknown that are black boxes [00:17:44,115]: Really [00:17:44,755]: Do you ever think like wow it’s kind of hard to know what’s gonna happen [00:17:49,195]: Look it is and I always think that you can never be 100 sure but you can stay within sight of guardrails and keep moving forward [00:18:03,495]: I can’t remember one of the Sunday morning shows I was on a couple of weeks ago the commentator asked me you know she said can you guarantee me there won’t be a recession [00:18:13,615]: And I said I can’t guarantee you anything [00:18:16,315]: Like there’s nothing that tells me there should be one [00:18:19,875]: So I believe that this is going to work just like President Reagan believed that supply side economics was going to work [00:18:29,155]: And but what I do know that the old system wasn’t working [00:18:34,955]: I think that’s right [00:18:35,735]: And if you look at a system that’s not working you gotta be brave to change it [00:18:40,755]: So what wasn’t working [00:18:42,955]: Would have been really fun for me to come in and just keep issuing a lot of debt [00:18:48,875]: And it’s almost like a bodybuilder is taking steroids [00:18:52,295]: Outside looks great you know you’re muscular [00:18:56,615]: Inside you’re killing your vital organs [00:18:58,675]: That’s what was going on here [00:18:59,975]: But it would have been easy to keep pumping up the economy borrowing a lot of money creating a lot of government jobs [00:19:08,675]: There was no controversy when we’re doing all that [00:19:12,495]: And the but you were going to end up in a calamity [00:19:15,715]: If you go back and look you know you look at the financial crisis in 07 08 economy looked great right up until then [00:19:27,235]: You go back and you look at the end of the dot com bubble and then the whole credit problem the fraud at WorldCom Enron some other companies economy looked great until it didn’t [00:19:40,555]: And I think one of the things that we won’t get credit for but that this administration will have done is avoiding a financial calamity [00:19:52,115]: You know think about it that they’ve done an analysis that one of the reasons 9 11 happened because the airlines didn’t want to pay for reinforced doors [00:20:02,375]: Yes [00:20:02,555]: They kept pushing back [00:20:04,255]: FAA didn’t push hard enough [00:20:05,975]: And now you know we’ve got the reinforced doors [00:20:09,055]: So I look at it we’re putting on the reinforced doors before the crash [00:20:15,415]: What’s the scramble the lobbying scramble by foreign governments going to be like over the next three months [00:20:20,035]: Because the president said yesterday you know we’re putting a universal tariff you know one standard but then of course each country’s adjusted according to a lot of different factors trade deficit currency manipulation regulation and then tariffs [00:20:30,855]: But you know this is all as you said a moving picture [00:20:34,095]: It’s a developing situation [00:20:36,195]: So like if I pick a country you know Vietnam China I mean I’m going to really try to bring pressure to bear on this administration to adjust those numbers [00:20:47,895]: Like what’s that going to be like [00:20:49,875]: It’s going to be the president’s decision [00:20:51,735]: And I think his view is this has been going on for a long time for friends and foes [00:20:58,575]: And we’re going to see where this plays out [00:21:01,955]: I think what’s going to be more important than the discussion with countries is the discussion with companies [00:21:08,495]: So what do companies want to do [00:21:11,755]: As President Trump said yesterday best way to get around the tariffs build your factory here [00:21:17,795]: And what can we do here at Treasury to help that [00:21:22,735]: We’re pushing to get the tax bill done so we can guarantee the low taxes full depreciation within the first year [00:21:31,895]: We’re working with Secretaries Burgum and Wright on energy security [00:21:37,415]: And we’re working on getting the regulations down [00:21:42,555]: The president I don’t know whether he talked about it yesterday or the day before Taiwan Semi or just semiconductor manufacturer in the world Lee Zeldin the EPA commissioner is working to push through all the permits that they need because we’ve just gone into this regulatory morass where it takes so long to get things done in this country [00:22:03,495]: So I think what will be more interesting are the individual company announcements more than the country announcements [00:22:12,515]: You want to sell to Americans you got to make it in America [00:22:15,355]: Sure or pay the tariff [00:22:18,015]: So how is China as a nation going to I mean this is such a big challenge [00:22:22,295]: It’s directly in their face [00:22:23,195]: It’s about every country on the globe but it’s really more than any other country about China I think it’s fair to say [00:22:28,675]: How are they going to respond [00:22:29,895]: What’s their retaliation look like [00:22:31,775]: Well I don’t know if they can retaliate for a couple of reasons [00:22:34,895]: If you look at the history and I used to teach economic history and when you look at the history we are the debtor nation [00:22:45,355]: We have the trade deficits [00:22:48,575]: The surplus nation is in the weaker position because the Chinese business model and Tucker by the way the Chinese business model and the economy are the most unbalanced imbalanced in the history of the modern world [00:23:01,915]: We’ve never seen anything like this in terms of their export level relative to their GDP relative to their population [00:23:10,835]: So I think it is going to be very difficult for them to try to change the model [00:23:16,855]: They’re in a deflationary recession slash depression right now [00:23:22,455]: They’re trying to export their way out of it and we can’t let them do that [00:23:26,575]: But I think that when you think the Chinese manufacturing system is like that old Disney movie with the brooms carrying the buckets there’s nothing you can do [00:23:35,395]: That’s their business model [00:23:37,315]: It’s not gonna stop [00:23:39,275]: Now what could happen if you were to say Scott what’s the dream scenario [00:23:47,115]: That somehow there could be a deal where the US and China we want more manufacturing which would mean a smaller part of the economy’s consumption [00:23:58,555]: The Chinese have this imbalanced economy with too much manufacturing and actually the Chinese consumers really get the short end of the stick [00:24:09,995]: So Chinese households they’re caught in what’s called a middle income trap that could we do something together to say okay you rebalance you consume more manufacture less [00:24:27,235]: We are going to consume less and manufacture more [00:24:31,015]: And we’ll be military rivals [00:24:35,255]: There’ll still be an economic rivalry but we’re gonna level the playing field by a lot [00:24:40,535]: Now that’s not gonna happen tomorrow [00:24:43,235]: That’s not gonna happen in a month [00:24:45,175]: But over the next few years they may have to come around because I think their business model is broken [00:24:52,275]: I think President Trump’s broken their business model with these tariffs [00:24:55,815]: So you’re describing the famous scenario where if you take a bank loan the bank is in charge [00:25:00,615]: They can repossess whatever you barred against [00:25:03,495]: But if you take a big enough loan you’re kind of in charge of the bank [00:25:07,735]: And they’ve just got such a big deficit with us that They need our markets [00:25:14,215]: They can’t survive without them [00:25:17,255]: Are you confident that there’s like a clear enough channel of communication between the two governments that the details can be worked out and that nothing will go crazy in the meantime [00:25:25,395]: Well I think what gives me a lot of confidence is the relationship between President Trump and Chairman Xi [00:25:33,495]: Yes [00:25:33,755]: That when you have a direct line of communication at the very top then I think it’s very difficult for things to go haywire [00:25:43,655]: What about the rest of the world [00:25:44,935]: What about Europe [00:25:46,915]: Look the Europeans we look back and there was the famous meeting where President Trump told the Europeans you’re insane for building Nord Stream 2 [00:25:59,295]: What are you doing [00:26:00,555]: You already get most of your energy from Russia and you’re gonna double down on it [00:26:04,595]: And they did [00:26:06,355]: And look what happened [00:26:08,235]: So We blew it up [00:26:09,715]: Somebody did [00:26:11,075]: Somebody did [00:26:12,295]: Somebody did [00:26:16,755]: Some Norwegian fishermen bumped into it is what I read [00:26:21,155]: But look the Europeans go kicking and screaming but I think they’re gonna have to rebalance too [00:26:29,235]: Germany has a very imbalanced export economy and they were on the verge of de industrialization [00:26:37,855]: They were the opposite of us [00:26:39,715]: They had expensive energy [00:26:42,295]: They were depending on Italy and the countries in the South to keep the Euro suppressed and they were selling into China and now China is becoming their competitor [00:26:55,315]: So you said at the outset the first example of the analogy that you used was President Reagan’s first term obviously big win in 80 recession of 82 wipe out and then like the biggest landslide in history in 84 [00:27:10,795]: So you’re suggesting by saying that that the fruits were obvious within the first term within four years [00:27:16,975]: They were [00:27:18,535]: Only difference now is there was a lot of competition back then but there’s a level of civility [00:27:25,695]: And the real danger here if there were a midterm loss and I don’t think there has to be you know what’s gonna happen [00:27:33,855]: I know what’s gonna happen [00:27:35,095]: Democratic House is gonna go immediately to impeachment for something [00:27:38,355]: Of course [00:27:38,855]: Like the law fair is gonna start again [00:27:42,215]: And I think the American people are gonna hate it again [00:27:46,295]: So Einstein’s definition of insanity doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome [00:27:50,915]: Do you think that and this is really aimed at the people who support President Trump and who agree with you wholeheartedly that the current system was really bad and like drive across the country you’ll see how bad it has been [00:28:04,035]: It lowered life expectancy but the people who are hoping that yesterday’s move will lead to a demonstrably brighter future within four years [00:28:13,135]: Is it your sincere prediction that within four years we’ll say actually that kind of worked [00:28:18,995]: I believe that it’s going to work [00:28:23,435]: And I know that what we were doing wasn’t working [00:28:26,555]: So I think we have to try this and I have a high confidence ratio [00:28:33,095]: It’s going to work [00:28:34,035]: And I have a very high confidence ratio [00:28:36,815]: The good news is we have President Trump’s previous term when everyone said none of this was gonna work [00:28:42,975]: Oh the China terrorists are gonna do this [00:28:45,175]: They’re gonna cause inflation [00:28:46,555]: They didn’t [00:28:48,275]: This is going to happen to working class [00:28:51,095]: It’s gonna be bad for working class Americans [00:28:53,715]: Well guess what [00:28:54,755]: Working class Americans the hourly workers did better than supervisory workers [00:29:00,415]: The bottom 50 of households their net worth increased faster than the top 10 of households [00:29:07,975]: And I’m not happy with what’s going on in the market today but the distribution of equities across households the top 10 of Americans own 88 of equities 88 of the stock market [00:29:24,275]: The next 40 owns 12 of the stock market [00:29:28,695]: The bottom 50 has debt [00:29:32,195]: They have credit card bills [00:29:34,055]: They rent their homes [00:29:35,295]: They have auto loans and we’ve got to give them some relief that I was struck by the statistic from last year [00:29:43,615]: That’s the message right there [00:29:44,555]: Just as a bystander I’m like wow okay [00:29:46,235]: Or that I like the examples and I was really struck by two different statistics last year [00:29:55,875]: Summer of 2024 Americans took more European vacations than they had in history [00:30:03,815]: Summer of 2024 more Americans were using food banks than they ever have in history [00:30:10,035]: I went into two food banks near my hometown to ask what’s the story [00:30:16,855]: And they said you know it really takes for a lot of people it’s a loss of dignity to walk in a food bank [00:30:24,415]: And but they were seeing something a new phenomenon that it wasn’t their traditional clientele [00:30:31,095]: It wasn’t people who’d lost their homes [00:30:32,595]: It wasn’t people out on the street [00:30:34,855]: These were working families who could no longer 100 at the grocery store that basket of groceries every week they were missing five six seven things and they were coming to the food bank to top up [00:30:49,415]: So that’s not a great America [00:30:52,595]: Record European vacation record food banks [00:30:55,495]: And no reason we can’t keep the record European vacations going but we gotta take care of these other people [00:31:04,135]: But and you know what [00:31:06,155]: That they don’t want handouts [00:31:08,715]: The Democrats had this strategy called Compensate the Loser [00:31:13,355]: So first of all the name of that strategy I don’t think the bottom 50 of Americans are losers [00:31:19,175]: I think the system hasn’t worked for them [00:31:23,735]: I think that they are winners [00:31:25,895]: It’s just a bad system [00:31:27,635]: So we are going to fix the system [00:31:30,955]: And look they want good jobs [00:31:33,415]: They want their kids to do better than they did [00:31:35,795]: They wanna own a home [00:31:37,075]: They wanna pay down their debt [00:31:39,415]: That this isn’t hard [00:31:42,955]: And I think that we can do this in the next four years [00:31:47,744]: It used to be only crazy people thought they were being watched all the time surveilled the guy mumbling next to you on the bus but now anyone who knows what’s going on thinks that because it’s true [00:31:58,084]: Your phones are listening to you [00:31:59,804]: Tech companies tracking all your online activity in order to profit off of what ought to be private information [00:32:06,064]: Governments are watching too [00:32:07,204]: It’s a corrupt system [00:32:08,604]: It’s frightening [00:32:08,984]: And the worst part is it’s all legal [00:32:10,784]: Government certainly will not help stop this [00:32:12,864]: Of course the intel agencies love it [00:32:15,144]: So it’s up to you to protect yourself and that’s where ExpressVPN comes in [00:32:19,384]: ExpressVPN which we use here is an app that sends 100 of your online activity through secure encrypted servers [00:32:25,304]: That means nobody can see what you do online [00:32:27,984]: Not internet service providers not data brokers not intel agencies [00:32:33,184]: Don’t believe it [00:32:34,244]: Listen to this [00:32:34,644]: Within the last year ExpressVPN received over 400 000 data requests from tech companies and government agencies but did not share a single piece of customer data [00:32:45,784]: That’s because the company has a strict zero logs policy [00:32:50,564]: ExpressVPN cannot and will not share your data [00:32:53,304]: They don’t even have your data to share [00:32:55,964]: ExpressVPN is easy to use [00:32:57,064]: Takes one click [00:32:58,104]: It’s rated number one by the experts at CNET and The Verge [00:33:01,264]: And right now you get an extra three months for free when you use a special link [00:33:05,204]: Go to expressvpn com [00:33:07,724]: slash Tucker and get that extra months for free [00:33:12,444]: It’s expressvpn com [00:33:13,784]: slash Tucker [00:33:15,124]: You grew up in a middle class working class background [00:33:18,224]: You were very successful lived in rich person world for a long time [00:33:22,184]: While this was all going on and I just have to ask you candidly were you ever at dinner with people who were like wow you know we’re doing great [00:33:29,084]: I live in rich person world too [00:33:30,324]: I’m not criticizing you at all [00:33:31,304]: But like did anyone at dinner ever say wow you know I just tried to drive somewhere for a hundred miles [00:33:37,424]: This country doesn’t look good [00:33:38,344]: Like people are not thriving [00:33:40,164]: Was there any sense of that among people you knew [00:33:43,004]: No they were more my net jet was an hour late [00:33:46,084]: I had the worst day [00:33:47,404]: My net jet was an hour late [00:33:48,844]: You can’t believe oh my God I’m going to switch charter companies [00:33:53,044]: So that’s and look Tucker that I’m especially attuned to what I think is going on with the very affluent early settlers [00:34:04,384]: We were very affluent for about 250 years [00:34:08,744]: My dad made a lot of bad financial choices [00:34:11,524]: So when I was born first six seven eight years we were affluent he lost everything [00:34:19,564]: And so I’ve seen what that’s like [00:34:22,004]: I’ve seen both sides that I was fortunate enough to be able to make it back [00:34:27,024]: And that you know I know what economic insecurity is like and I don’t think people should have to have that [00:34:38,264]: Or if you want to work hard and people want to work hard you were out on the campaign trail of president Trump [00:34:44,824]: I was out on the campaign trail and I got to say one of the most so I went for the final two stops in Pittsburgh Grand Rapids Michigan Pittsburgh in the Duquesne arena walk in and there are the union workers the steel workers they got on their hats they got on their vests they’re with their children [00:35:10,164]: And it’s very moving [00:35:12,924]: They just want a better life [00:35:14,484]: They want their communities to be sound [00:35:17,504]: They want their kids to do better [00:35:19,044]: They want a little league baseball like they don’t care what’s going on in Madison Avenue [00:35:26,064]: They don’t know what the hot new restaurant is in Paris [00:35:30,104]: And that President Trump somehow has assembled this incredible coalition of Elon Musk the richest man in the world [00:35:37,564]: And those folks who were in the Rose Garden yesterday and those people I saw at the Duquesne arena [00:35:42,724]: And I think it’s unbelievable [00:35:46,224]: Interesting [00:35:48,864]: What do you worry about as Treasury Secretary [00:35:51,884]: Obviously probably like lying bed at night thinking about all the things that go wrong with the US economy [00:35:55,864]: What are your if you could be honest like what are your biggest worries [00:36:00,324]: That so to the extent that in my business career I had a strong point I think it was risk management [00:36:08,304]: So I do myself two things the United States leading bond salesman [00:36:13,204]: Yep [00:36:13,464]: And I think that with what’s going on I’m going to have a better and better story to tell as we’re getting our economic health and our fiscal health in order [00:36:23,584]: And then I try to imagine what could go very wrong [00:36:28,924]: What would we do if there were another outbreak similar to COVID [00:36:34,624]: You can’t worry about things like that but I worry about a kinetic war somewhere [00:36:44,664]: What would we do in the event of something that happened [00:36:51,244]: And what I try to do is create the situation where I can worry a little less every day [00:36:57,784]: So I’ll tell you I came in I was confirmed on January 28th [00:37:03,764]: And during the month of January 10 year interest rates which is probably the most important rate in the country mortgages are based on that business and capital formation is based on that [00:37:16,504]: I came in and that had almost spiked to 5 [00:37:19,464]: And I think 5 can be an uncomfortable area for the economy for Treasury who has to issue a lot of bonds [00:37:28,724]: And now that I’ve gotten in I worry a little less but I still worry [00:37:36,304]: We’ve got a tremendous amount of debt to roll [00:37:39,804]: And I worry that we aren’t going to do the smart cuts and the focus on waste fraud and abuse [00:37:50,364]: I worry that that gets sidelined [00:37:52,164]: And then on the other side I worry that the tax bill somehow gets bogged down [00:37:59,664]: We could have the largest tax increase in history [00:38:02,924]: Or I worry that the normal geopolitical things whether it’s Iran Taiwan that something goes haywire between Russia and Ukraine [00:38:18,104]: So you began your job description by saying you’re a bond salesman [00:38:22,544]: You’re selling America’s debt to the world [00:38:24,524]: And I know that was a big part of the portfolio as the transition was envisioning it like who can make the case for American bonds to the world [00:38:32,984]: How were your case [00:38:35,104]: Are you confident you can do that [00:38:36,884]: And how is your pitch changing after yesterday [00:38:41,524]: Well as I said right now we’re in this strange betwixt and between because we are going to take in substantial tariff revenue [00:38:51,884]: And what Doge is doing is substantially cutting expenses but we’re not getting credit for it right now [00:38:59,344]: But I think markets starting to get a hand of it [00:39:03,764]: So the 10 year bond having almost peaked at five is now through four [00:39:13,224]: Way to think about it is every basis point is about a billion dollars in savings [00:39:19,444]: So we’ve saved 100 billion [00:39:23,764]: And that’s probably not going to happen that quickly again [00:39:29,124]: But I think that we are setting the sails for a much better fiscal time [00:39:39,524]: And people don’t have to say the US is out of control the US is going to default [00:39:47,344]: That we’re not [00:39:49,284]: And I think every day my case gets better [00:39:53,524]: And if we were to just imagine a very reductionist formula for government [00:40:00,204]: So G equals S minus T spending minus taxes [00:40:06,064]: That for spending our side the Republicans we like to spend but less than the Democrats but both sides like to spend [00:40:16,724]: And then minus T Democrats like higher taxes we like lower taxes [00:40:22,394]: What if the S actually went down [00:40:26,084]: And I think to me that’s the exciting part [00:40:28,904]: That that’s been unthinkable in everybody’s calculation [00:40:32,804]: No one’s even really seriously raised it including Ronald Reagan by the way [00:40:37,084]: And look I think President Reagan had a different agenda that he ramped up defense spending [00:40:45,144]: And remember oh he’s crazy it’s this it’s going to break the budget [00:40:49,144]: Star Wars is crazy [00:40:50,444]: He’s a madman [00:40:52,104]: And then the Iron Curtain went down [00:40:54,184]: And we were able to so it’s actually a Soviet term [00:40:59,104]: And he used the Soviet strategy on the Russians escalate to de escalate [00:41:05,864]: So we escalated military spending [00:41:08,224]: They tried to keep up and then they collapsed [00:41:13,384]: So again everything’s easy in hindsight [00:41:16,964]: But I think here what we’re doing in terms of bringing down these incredible levels of spending but more importantly I tell anyone who’ll listen I said remember DOGE is the Office of Government Efficiency not elimination not extinction [00:41:37,344]: So what if we can actually do a better job with less [00:41:44,284]: Seems inconceivable [00:41:45,744]: But when I see what’s going on in a lot of these government agencies it’s unbelievable [00:41:52,264]: And if you think I’ve lived in Manhattan I’ve lived in Florida [00:41:58,744]: Roughly state of New York state of Florida have the same number of people [00:42:03,424]: Actually Florida has a few more now [00:42:07,104]: So New York budget is about 235 billion [00:42:11,844]: Florida budget’s 125 billion [00:42:13,724]: How did they do that [00:42:15,044]: Oh yeah [00:42:15,864]: And there’s no income tax in Florida [00:42:18,084]: Oh yeah [00:42:18,884]: And the roads are better [00:42:20,864]: And you go and get your driver’s license and it takes 15 minutes not five hours [00:42:26,644]: So I think can we make the rest of America look more like Florida and less like New York [00:42:33,104]: Or one day is New York going to look more like Florida [00:42:38,044]: So do you think after four years we will see an actual net reduction in government spending thanks to DOGE [00:42:43,724]: Inflation adjusted yes [00:42:48,424]: How long do you think Elon’s in for [00:42:50,584]: I think that Elon day to day I don’t know [00:42:56,004]: But I think his imprint is going to be with us a long time [00:43:00,604]: And I think that the mainstream media has tried to demonize DOGE and all the folks who work with him [00:43:12,204]: And I tell you we have a couple at Treasury a couple at IRS [00:43:17,344]: They’re Treasury employees who I hired I interviewed [00:43:21,984]: And I’ll tell you there’s this one fellow Tom Krause [00:43:24,844]: He was on TV with Brett Baer the other night [00:43:28,104]: And Tom’s incredible [00:43:29,644]: He’s done 100 billion of tech mergers [00:43:32,444]: With my investment business I would have hired him [00:43:35,564]: I don’t think I could have afforded him [00:43:37,144]: And he is doing this for the good of his country [00:43:40,364]: He came in without touching any of the payment systems that the mistruths that were spread by the Washington Post [00:43:51,424]: He has analyzed the system [00:43:53,384]: And within six weeks pointed at all the vulnerabilities [00:43:57,424]: There’s a young man named Sam Kyrkos who was on Laura Ingraham with me the other night [00:44:03,684]: And that was my idea [00:44:05,204]: It’s like let’s bring him out of the shadows [00:44:08,104]: And let’s make this demonization stop [00:44:13,684]: And this young man other than the fact he only owns one pair of pants which he likes telling everyone you or I would be happy if our daughter brought him home [00:44:23,364]: He’s a patriot [00:44:24,784]: He’s working hard for the country [00:44:27,044]: And he’s analytical [00:44:28,944]: And the things that he’s seen at the IRS just in their tech systems [00:44:33,924]: And that’s all he does [00:44:34,744]: Elon has a shirt that he wears under his jacket [00:44:38,164]: He’ll flash it every once in a while [00:44:39,564]: It says tech support [00:44:41,444]: And that’s what we’re getting [00:44:43,244]: Is we’ve got a blockbuster style government and we should be on Netflix [00:44:50,884]: We’re hailing cabs and we’re in an Uber economy [00:44:54,644]: Why can’t the government be in the gig economy [00:44:57,464]: Not hard [00:44:58,764]: So we’re not positive that cryptocurrency is the future of finance but we do know that what we have now is broken and dangerous [00:45:05,704]: Debt has never been higher in this country [00:45:07,444]: Many of our so called leaders are getting rich serving you [00:45:10,864]: It’s a scam [00:45:11,704]: So where does it go [00:45:12,884]: Well thankfully there are options [00:45:15,304]: Donald Trump has said repeatedly he wants the United States to be the crypto capital of the world [00:45:19,364]: He’s already created the Crypto Advisory Council and recently signed an executive order to establish a Bitcoin strategic reserve [00:45:25,564]: This could give normal people an alternative to the government’s failing system and frankly to the US dollar [00:45:31,264]: I’m not saying put all your money outside the US dollar but like don’t be crazy [00:45:35,284]: Don’t be stupid here [00:45:35,944]: You can see where it’s going [00:45:37,124]: So the people that I trust capital can help you get in to this [00:45:41,784]: It’s complicated for people who aren’t following it [00:45:44,084]: They make it easy [00:45:45,084]: They’re based 100 in the United States of America [00:45:47,444]: We looked into this [00:45:48,684]: They service only American investors and they operate the only platform that allows you to buy and sell crypto 24 seven both inside and outside of your tax advantaged IRA [00:45:57,824]: And it all happens on one easy to use dashboard [00:46:00,384]: They also operate a closed loop system meaning that bad actors can’t access your account and steal your money [00:46:07,244]: So if you’re considering adding Bitcoin if you want to or some other cryptocurrency portfolio iTrust can be trusted and it’s easy to understand [00:46:17,124]: iTrustCapital com [00:46:18,404]: or click the link below [00:46:20,224]: Can I ask you a weird question [00:46:21,704]: What who runs the Federal Reserve exactly [00:46:24,824]: I don’t really how can you have this like pivotal entity institution that obviously has like the most direct effect on markets of any and it does seem outside of political control [00:46:39,024]: What is that [00:46:40,724]: Well look I think that I during my confirmation hearing and I was actually at a dinner that Jerome Powell was at last night [00:46:55,444]: At my confirmation hearing I said you know I’m only going to talk about the mistakes the Federal Reserve has made in the past [00:47:03,304]: I won’t talk about the ones that are going to make in the future [00:47:06,924]: But I think it is important for monetary policy that they are walled off that some of the other things they do whether regulation they got into DEI they got into climate [00:47:19,524]: I actually think that that impinges on their monetary policy and makes them vulnerable [00:47:27,864]: So I think that they should focus on monetary policy doing the best that they can for the American economy the American people keeping inflation low [00:47:39,744]: And then the rest there are a lot of other banking agencies too [00:47:47,804]: So the Fed controls the weather now too [00:47:49,784]: What were they doing with climate [00:47:51,644]: Well I will tell you there’s something the Treasury Secretary chairs something called the Financial Stability Oversight Council and it’s all the financial regulators [00:48:03,324]: And I think it was two weeks before Silicon Valley Bank went under [00:48:10,357]: FSOC issued a report and guess what they said the biggest risk to the financial system was [00:48:17,697]: Really [00:48:18,757]: Not that there was a large bank in California that was having a slow motion run on its assets and that it would cause another bank failure then another bank failure it was climate [00:48:32,257]: So as far as I can see climate’s been pretty good [00:48:36,077]: They failed [00:48:38,477]: The regulators failed [00:48:40,397]: And I think that’s what people are getting sick of [00:48:43,637]: And it’s back to one of my favorite phrases that President Trump uses common sense [00:48:50,157]: It’s just common sense that if you have a whole bunch of deposits that could leave your bank with a click you shouldn’t have all these long term assets but they were too busy worrying about the weather [00:49:04,057]: And there was also some degree of regulatory capture [00:49:09,097]: Seems hard to believe to the average citizen the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank was on the board of the San Francisco Federal Reserve who was his chief regulator [00:49:22,057]: They going to tell that guy what to do [00:49:24,897]: Why is gold moving around the world in such huge quantities right now [00:49:28,677]: Well a couple of things [00:49:31,037]: It’s moving [00:49:34,317]: Physically it’s moving because of potential tariffs here [00:49:39,597]: So it was unclear whether we were going to exempt gold from tariffs which I believe we have [00:49:47,777]: So there was a big move out of vaults in Switzerland out of vaults in London to get it into New York [00:49:55,497]: And look there are a lot of different stores of value over time [00:50:02,257]: Bitcoin is becoming a store of value [00:50:04,317]: Gold has historically been a store of value [00:50:08,777]: I think what’s interesting is where do we see the gold demand coming from [00:50:13,797]: A huge amount is from China where as I said they’re in the middle of an economic recession slash depression [00:50:21,097]: People don’t trust the Chinese currency because they have capital controls [00:50:26,977]: There are 1 4 billion Chinese who all want to get their money out and they won’t let them [00:50:34,737]: They will let them buy gold [00:50:38,517]: So that’s the response you think [00:50:40,437]: But it’s just do you find it interesting that even now 2025 when everything is abstract and digital that gold is still widely believed globally to be a reliable store of value [00:50:52,977]: I think that gold has a lot of history going with it [00:51:01,597]: That a friend of mine’s grandmother during Russia had a financial crisis in 98 [00:51:06,897]: Then they had a big inflation and a friend of mine’s grandmother went out and bought 18 bicycles and put them in her apartment and that was her store of value [00:51:15,197]: How did she do on the bike investment [00:51:17,957]: Great [00:51:18,517]: I wish I did that well [00:51:23,597]: But gold also has other applications a lot of applications jewelry in India [00:51:30,877]: But it’s something that historically people have all agreed on and gold does not have gold can’t have a fiscal problem [00:51:40,537]: Gold cannot have a gigantic budget deficit [00:51:45,277]: Gold cannot have a war [00:51:52,417]: So just the fact that it is this isolated thing makes it very interesting [00:51:58,737]: And the fact that the entire global trading system until Richard Nixon took us off was tied to gold [00:52:07,317]: So you’re not anti gold [00:52:08,317]: Oh no [00:52:09,897]: No no no [00:52:11,137]: When I had my fund I think people might have called me a gold bug [00:52:16,197]: How did you wind up interacting with Zelensky [00:52:19,447]: President asked me to go to Kyiv [00:52:23,237]: Well he actually asked me to lead the economic agreement that was part of his peace plan [00:52:32,017]: And I think it’s important to look at the arc of President Trump’s peace plan [00:52:40,237]: And he had sequenced it really well [00:52:43,857]: We’re going to sign a deal with Ukrainians and it’ll do several things [00:52:51,457]: One it will make the US and Ukraine partners link us closer together [00:52:59,757]: Two it will be a symbol to Russian leadership that the US isn’t abandoning Ukraine [00:53:08,517]: But importantly three it will show the American people that we have an economic stake and that we haven’t just been doing these massive grants which has been the history of USAID [00:53:21,697]: Of course [00:53:22,257]: So Ukraine succeeds we succeed and it could be a long term partnership [00:53:28,677]: Now President I thought it was important to take the agreement to Kyiv and present it to President Zelensky [00:53:37,017]: Everyone’s telling me oh no having meet you in Vienna he’s going to be at the Munich Security Conference a few days later [00:53:43,297]: I said no [00:53:45,217]: I want to go there and discuss it with him [00:53:48,857]: And that’s how I ended up going to Kyiv [00:53:51,297]: Very interesting going to Kyiv [00:53:53,457]: You fly to Poland then you get on I don’t know if you’ve been on it get on this night train for 10 hours and you arrive at Kyiv at 8 30 in the morning [00:54:03,797]: And for anyone who said oh President Trump’s selling out to the Russians not selling out to the Russians the Russians bombed Kyiv four hours before I got there [00:54:17,237]: They hadn’t bombed since November [00:54:18,977]: So the Russians didn’t like the look of this deal because it thought that it was actually something durable for the U S people and the Ukrainian people [00:54:29,397]: So what happened [00:54:30,937]: President Zelensky was in the mood to sign the deal that day [00:54:34,617]: We had a spirited discussion [00:54:38,837]: And I said to him you’ve got 50 reporters out there [00:54:43,117]: I am here to show that there is no daylight between the American people the Russian people between excuse me the Ukrainian people between the American leadership and Ukrainian leadership [00:54:59,957]: And I said you’ve opened up daylight sides of the Grand Canyon [00:55:03,837]: What are we going to go out and tell those people [00:55:05,757]: He said tell them I’m going to sign the deal in Munich [00:55:09,297]: I said so you’re going to sign the deal when you see Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio in Munich [00:55:16,197]: Yes [00:55:17,297]: He didn’t sign it there [00:55:19,837]: There’s a lot of back and forth [00:55:21,957]: The following week they’re begging to come to the White House and should make him sign the deal before he comes [00:55:28,497]: And then he got to the Oval Office and blew up what should have been the easiest thing to do in the world [00:55:36,197]: He was supposed to show up have a press conference [00:55:38,737]: We’re going to have a private lunch [00:55:40,357]: If he had anything on his mind there were going to be nine of us nine of them in the White House dining room [00:55:46,557]: He could have aired his grievances then [00:55:48,797]: And there’s a famous photo in the East Wing ballroom of everything laid out on the table to be signed [00:55:58,527]: And it never got signed [00:56:01,177]: So this is an unelected president of a client state whose bureaucrats are being paid directly by American taxpayers including their retirement accounts are funded by us [00:56:09,437]: And they have the lowest retirement age in Europe [00:56:11,797]: It’s 60 [00:56:13,137]: Put it in contrast France is 62 and Italy is 67 [00:56:19,177]: And we’re paying for that [00:56:20,337]: And so at a certain point you know you wouldn’t expect a man like that in a highly precarious position [00:56:26,177]: I think it’s fair to say to like assume a high handed tone with American officials and berate them and sniff a lot and say you know it’s basically acting like a crazy person [00:56:37,697]: Like how do you account for that [00:56:39,877]: What is that [00:56:40,757]: Look a couple of things is he was a performer kind of a vaudevillian and he was an ordinary person thrown into a fraught time rose to the occasion was heroic and I think is stuck [00:57:01,477]: And I think under a tremendous amount of pressure I think that some of the government officials around him in the cabinet are very good [00:57:11,377]: I think some of the people around him he’s not getting the best advice that his advisors are not perfect [00:57:20,477]: And I think if we go back to the agreement I think one of the great things about the agreement is it makes sure that the money comes to the American people and the Ukrainian people because Tucker let me tell you what the agreement wasn’t [00:57:34,217]: It wasn’t one of these rapacious Chinese deals where it’s sign over your mind sign over your port or it wasn’t a loan to own [00:57:44,057]: Here’s the loan [00:57:44,517]: You’re never going to be able to pay it back [00:57:45,737]: We’re going to get this [00:57:46,837]: It’s a genuine economic partnership that they put in assets [00:57:52,437]: We can put in loans from our overseas banks [00:57:55,377]: We put in American know how and we don’t make any money unless they make money [00:58:01,537]: And you know who doesn’t like that [00:58:03,297]: People with their hand in the till because we were regulating the flow of the money [00:58:10,697]: So I think that’s part of the glitch [00:58:14,457]: I am hopeful that it was a bug not a feature of the system and that that’s been fixed [00:58:24,437]: We’re expecting a Ukrainian technical team beginning of next week and I’m hopeful we can get this thing signed and go back to a win win situation [00:58:36,537]: Because President Trump I didn’t give you the full arc of the deal President Trump wanted to create this deal with the Ukrainians then be able to go to Russian leadership and show them that we do stand with the Ukrainians but on an economic basis [00:58:58,837]: And then the Russians would be incentivized to come to the table also [00:59:05,057]: And so the sequencing has been thrown off but I think we can fix it [00:59:14,457]: Are we ever going to get an audit of where all of our billions went where all the weapons we sent what happened to all the cash all the pallets of hundred dollar bills like where are they now [00:59:24,797]: Why is it hard to get an audit of what happened to the money [00:59:29,177]: I don’t know [00:59:30,977]: In my life I always try to look forward [00:59:33,377]: And I think if this deal works then that money could end up being small change [00:59:41,037]: A good way to think about it when the Iron Curtain came down Ukraine and Poland’s economies were roughly the same size [00:59:51,037]: Poland is three and a half or four times larger now [00:59:53,777]: Poland is going to have one of the highest per capita GDPs in the world higher than some Western European countries [01:00:01,237]: For sure [01:00:02,657]: Ukraine to your point because of various kleptocracy aspects has been held back [01:00:10,777]: So hopefully with U S assistance and President Trump engineering this peace deal Ukrainian people can have a better future [01:00:22,497]: For a Treasury Secretary you’re a very capable diplomat I must say very diplomatic language [01:00:28,537]: Last question [01:00:29,257]: How do you so because this is also and you’re just going back to the tariff announcement yesterday and because it’s like it really is a total departure from what all of us have grown up with and our expectations and however much you support it it’s new [01:00:42,797]: And people are freaked out about it [01:00:45,117]: How do you keep message discipline in an administration in any administration and this one specifically how do you decide how you’re going to explain this who’s going to explain it [01:00:56,257]: How do you keep messages from contradicting one another [01:00:59,257]: What is that process like [01:01:00,477]: We all take President Trump’s lead [01:01:02,917]: We know we had a meeting yesterday morning we had a meeting after the announcement in the Rose Garden before we went out doing media [01:01:13,117]: And as you know he’s his own best spokesman [01:01:16,257]: Nobody can do it better [01:01:17,557]: And then we fan out and we are all unified behind this and his vision [01:01:26,297]: That’s why we’re here [01:01:27,257]: If you didn’t want to be part of it shouldn’t be here [01:01:31,677]: But do you ever say like you know maybe this is someone who can reassure potential bond buyers investors in markets this person scares the crap out of markets like let’s get the guy who reassures markets [01:01:43,217]: Well the one thing I will say that no one should listen to anyone in the markets talk about the U S dollar other than President Trump or myself [01:01:54,017]: We are the only ones who speak for this administration the United States government on dollar policy [01:02:00,737]: I can tell you we have a strong dollar policy and we’re putting in all of the necessary ingredients to make sure the dollar is strong over the long run [01:02:11,677]: Can it go up and down on a Bloomberg terminal over the short run [01:02:17,397]: Sure [01:02:18,397]: Can individual bilateral moves happen between the dollar and the Mexican currency the dollar and the yen [01:02:25,497]: Sure [01:02:25,777]: That’s that’s what I made my living doing [01:02:28,017]: I’m glad it doesn’t [01:02:29,257]: But over time if we put in solid economic fundamentals and do this transformative program then the dollar is going to do great [01:02:40,497]: And the American people are going to do great [01:02:43,417]: Secretary thank you very much [01:02:44,797]: Thank you [01:02:45,657]: Appreciate it [01:02:49,817]: So it turns out that YouTube is suppressing this show [01:02:53,497]: On one level that’s not surprising [01:02:55,217]: That’s what they do [01:02:55,837]: But on another level it’s shocking [01:02:57,377]: With everything that’s going on in the world right now all the change taking place in our economy and our politics with the wars on the cusp of fighting right now Google has decided you should have less information rather than more [01:03:09,977]: And that is totally wrong [01:03:12,557]: It’s immoral [01:03:13,497]: What can you do about it [01:03:15,377]: Well we could whine about it [01:03:16,777]: That’s a waste of time [01:03:17,977]: We’re not in charge of Google [01:03:18,937]: Or we could find a way around it a way that you could actually get information that is true not intentionally deceptive [01:03:25,037]: The way to do that on YouTube we think it’s to subscribe to our channel [01:03:29,037]: Subscribe [01:03:29,577]: Hit the little bell icon to be notified when we upload and share this video [01:03:33,957]: That way you’ll have a much higher chance of hearing actual news and information [01:03:39,137]: So we hope that you’ll do thatTranscribe your media with TRNSCRB.
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