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Speaker 2: So a new member joining the Apple family, which I
Speaker 2: guess is probably pretty extensive. We think about a lot
Speaker 2: of things as families in the business and in the
Speaker 2: political world, including for example, the House Republican conference, where
Speaker 2: there's famously what five families that all have to try
Speaker 2: to get their heads together and pursue the same policy.
Speaker 2: And therein lies the challenge that is facing House Republicans
Speaker 2: right now as they try to find a path forward
Speaker 2: on budget reconciliation to achieve the legislative objectives of President Trump,
Speaker 2: which includes steep tax cuts making permanent his twenty seventeen
Speaker 2: tax cuts, specifically energy and border policy, which they're trying
Speaker 2: in the House to roll all into one bill. We
Speaker 2: got the budget outline yesterday's right. It seems things are
Speaker 2: changing though as they mark things up, with the Budget
Speaker 2: chair Jody Errington now saying if they can't reach two
Speaker 2: trillion dollars in tax cuts the maximum allowed or two
Speaker 2: tucks in spending cuts. Rather, the maximum allowed in tax
Speaker 2: cuts would be four trillion dollars. The problem is just
Speaker 2: renewing the twenty seventeen tax cuts is expected to cost
Speaker 2: a bit more than that, So the math.
Speaker 3: Is difficult here. And that's where Congressman Ralph Norman comes in.
Speaker 3: I'm glad that we have the opportunity to bring in
Speaker 3: a member of the aforementioned House Budget Committee representing South
Speaker 3: Carolina's fifth district with his own point of view here.
Speaker 3: And we're told, Congressman, welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio,
Speaker 3: that you're one of two potential no's with the numbers
Speaker 3: that we're hearing. So let's we'll update that. Let's say
Speaker 3: it's at least two trillion in spending cuts, four and
Speaker 3: a half trillion dollar cap on tax cuts, a four
Speaker 3: trillion dollar extension of the debt limit. Would you vote
Speaker 3: yes on a bill like that?
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, what we started out with was
Speaker 4: we could not continue to payath of unsustained spending.
Speaker 5: Spending is a problem for inflation. Inflation. It's not income,
Speaker 5: it's it's spending.
Speaker 4: Uh, the base budget. I voted to get out of committee.
Speaker 4: We had the timeline to meet, which is today for
Speaker 4: the markup, which we're doing. To be honest, I'm confident
Speaker 4: that we're going to have the amendments in place that
Speaker 4: will get the job done. And as you mentioned, we've
Speaker 4: got one point five trillion in baseline number with an
Speaker 4: aspiration of two the tax cuts four tree in four
Speaker 4: and a half, and then with three hundred three hundred
Speaker 4: billion four defense and homeland security, and uh, I think
Speaker 4: we're going to get there. I think it's important for
Speaker 4: us to get our own version out. I know the
Speaker 4: Senate is working on one, but you know, all the
Speaker 4: House is responsible for the purse strains.
Speaker 5: So I'm confident we'll get it out.
Speaker 4: It's going to be a long day, but we expected
Speaker 4: that a lot of amendments, a lot of Democrat amendments,
Speaker 4: and uh, we'll have our own that I'm confident.
Speaker 5: I add to the value.
Speaker 2: Well, obviously, Congressman, getting it out of committee is one hurdle,
Speaker 2: but getting a package that can actually pass on the
Speaker 2: House floor with what is assumed to be zero Democratic
Speaker 2: votes is another thing. Entirely with this structure, are you
Speaker 2: confident the requisite votes would be there.
Speaker 5: Here's what I'm confident of.
Speaker 4: When it goes to the floor, there'll be a total
Speaker 4: explanation of every cut every committee comes up with and
Speaker 4: where it's coming from.
Speaker 5: Is it going to be easy, No, it's not going
Speaker 5: to be.
Speaker 4: But every dollar in Congress that's spent has got an
Speaker 4: advocate for it, and they're coming out in full force
Speaker 4: as I speak to you right now, Kayley. But yeah,
Speaker 4: I'm confident, and I'm confident because of this it will
Speaker 4: make sense. Everybody agrees that we can't continue the path.
Speaker 4: But I tell you what's got to happen. President Trump,
Speaker 4: who's got a sixty five sixty nine percent approval rating,
Speaker 4: is going to have to get involved. Anybody that at
Speaker 4: the end of the day when he goes to the
Speaker 4: floor that doesn't agree with it or has issues, I
Speaker 4: think he will directly get involved, as he has, and
Speaker 4: he's done a brilliant job of doing that and explaining
Speaker 4: why the tax cuts. We've got to get this out
Speaker 4: because it's going to be a tax it's going to
Speaker 4: be a tax increase for over twenty eight to thirty.
Speaker 5: Five percent for all Americans.
Speaker 4: We can't let that happen. The prosperity that happened under
Speaker 4: his reign. We've got to continue and I think at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, I think we'll pass it.
Speaker 3: Well, we know, Congressman, that President Trump is not above
Speaker 3: picking up the phone when it's time to weigh in
Speaker 3: on things. As I'm sure we all recall from the
Speaker 3: most recent speakers vote. Are you hungry for the president
Speaker 3: to weigh in here?
Speaker 4: Absolutely, he's got away in because we can't afford to
Speaker 4: stumble on this. I mean, you know, it's interesting every politician,
Speaker 4: every four well five hundred and thirty five members of
Speaker 4: Congress campaign on conservatism, cutting the depths that we know
Speaker 4: it's not sustainable. Now when it actually comes down to it,
Speaker 4: that's where he comes into the picture and does it
Speaker 4: put Does it make sense to put work requirements on Medicaid?
Speaker 5: I think it does.
Speaker 4: Does it make sense to go down the line and
Speaker 4: let block grants, let states handle some of that funding.
Speaker 4: It's not a cut in medicaid as one example. But yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean, I think he's going to have to get
Speaker 4: involved and he will to pass what he considers this
Speaker 4: is a lynch pin for his whole four years in office.
Speaker 4: Is great to start it now look what he's done
Speaker 4: on the Doe's Commission, and so I'm anxious and I
Speaker 4: think he's going to pass and I'm optimistic.
Speaker 2: Well, and with this structure, you already mentioned potential cuts
Speaker 2: to medicate here. But essentially what this structure will mean
Speaker 2: is that if the cost of Trump's tax cuts go higher,
Speaker 2: if we're adding on things like no tax on tips
Speaker 2: or overtime or social Security, lifting the salt cap, perhaps
Speaker 2: more spending cuts have to come into place. So what
Speaker 2: else is going to have to go on the chopping
Speaker 2: block if Donald Trump the president is to get everything
Speaker 2: he wants here, Well, first of.
Speaker 5: All, it's not cut to medicaid. We're not doing that.
Speaker 4: Is it a reallocation yes. Is it getting people off
Speaker 4: the rows of a healthy Yes. And that's what he
Speaker 4: can sell to anybody who is feeling a lot of pressure,
Speaker 4: which I understand.
Speaker 5: But and you've got to consider the growth rate.
Speaker 4: I think we've got a two point five percent growth
Speaker 4: in the economy of GDP.
Speaker 5: I think that'll happen. That'll make some of the difference up.
Speaker 5: But it's not going to be easy, but it never is.
Speaker 4: But I think we'll get there. And the alternative of
Speaker 4: letting the tax cuts his fire and give Americans that
Speaker 4: kind of a tax increase is not a pretty picture.
Speaker 5: And we're not going to let that happen.
Speaker 3: I'm wondering where you are on the timeline here, Congressman,
Speaker 3: and just how much time there is to work all
Speaker 3: of this out. We've got a funding deadline twenty nine
Speaker 3: days out. Would you support a continuing resolution to keep
Speaker 3: the lights on if negotiations we're moving in the right direction.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't like crs.
Speaker 4: I think it needs to be a kind of a
Speaker 4: modified CR as example, the ones that get hit the
Speaker 4: most of the military. I think Pete Hexstath will weigh
Speaker 4: in on what he needs. I think Tom Holman will
Speaker 4: weigh in with what he needs. But yeah, I would
Speaker 4: vote for a CR, depending on what the final conditions
Speaker 4: are as part of it. But you've got to allow
Speaker 4: the continuation of what particularly the military is doing in
Speaker 4: every contract, every lease extension is affected by a CR
Speaker 4: in a negative way. We will have to do some
Speaker 4: carve outs and they will have to tell us what
Speaker 4: they need. We finally got people in office that they
Speaker 4: know it. Pete Hextath knows the military, he knows where
Speaker 4: the money ought to go. The same thing with Tom Holman.
Speaker 4: He's got this deportation down, but the agency is at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, the appropriations are going to
Speaker 4: have to come up with the money. And that's where
Speaker 4: Donald Trump comes in to make the case. And I
Speaker 4: think there's no one better they can do it, that
Speaker 4: can present the case than he can.
Speaker 3: Do.
Speaker 2: Democrats come in somewhere, Congressman on this when we're talking
Speaker 2: about just keeping the government funded beyond March specifically, they don't.
Speaker 4: Come into the solution. I mean, we're not gonna have
Speaker 4: to deal with them, hopefully.
Speaker 5: I mean.
Speaker 4: Some of the things that we've heard they're going to
Speaker 4: ask for, like the elimination of Elon Musk, like the
Speaker 4: end to deportation. It's ludicrous. People are excited about what
Speaker 4: Elon Musk is doing, and if you have to deal
Speaker 4: with them, they're so it's just two different universes with
Speaker 4: them today. And I mean, look at the demonstrations they've
Speaker 4: done on against what Elon Musk is doing. He's not
Speaker 4: getting paid, he's an investigator. He's supplying the numbers that
Speaker 4: we should have had years ago.
Speaker 5: So no, I don't think we'll have to deal with them.
Speaker 4: And I don't think we'll need their vote at the
Speaker 4: end of the day, they're not going to vote with us.
Speaker 4: When you watch watch the here in the budget committee,
Speaker 4: I don't think any of them going to vote for
Speaker 4: this budget.
Speaker 5: And we've got a good budget and I think we'll
Speaker 5: pass it.
Speaker 3: Realizing you support the spirit of Elon Musk's mission here, Congressman,
Speaker 3: as a lawmaker in the House of Representatives, do you
Speaker 3: worry when we talk about xing out entire agencies without
Speaker 3: the approval of Congress?
Speaker 4: Absolutely not let the money flow, which has never been discovered.
Speaker 4: People are asking, maybe why didn't Congress discover these abuses
Speaker 4: of where our money goes? The reason is we couldn't
Speaker 4: get to it. He's the only one that had the
Speaker 4: brain power and the bandwidth to get to where to
Speaker 4: follow the checks to where they actually ended up.
Speaker 3: The money is one thing, though, but the actual existence
Speaker 3: of the agency just just if they blow them out.
Speaker 3: You don't think Congress should have a say in that.
Speaker 4: I think when yeah, at the end of the day,
Speaker 4: we'll have to vote on it. But through his executive
Speaker 4: powers and through the Constitution, he can cut the funding off,
Speaker 4: which he's doing. And you know, if let's say an
Speaker 4: agency that has some good parts in it. President Trump
Speaker 4: will recognize those that need to be continued. But the
Speaker 4: money is where it all ends up showing whether an
Speaker 4: agency should continue.
Speaker 5: It shouldn't go overseas.
Speaker 4: It shouldn't go for Sesame Street books for the June
Speaker 4: to twenty million, It shouldn't go on to sixteen million
Speaker 4: to Vietnam for inclusion.
Speaker 5: Things like that.
Speaker 4: We the people are going to weigh in on, and
Speaker 4: they already have. But some agencies will need to be modified.
Speaker 4: Some agencies will need to be scaled down. Department of
Speaker 4: Education is one of them. Social Security is another one.
Speaker 4: When you find out from what I'm hearing, people are
Speaker 4: getting four and five checks. He's investigating all that and
Speaker 4: let the American people decide. It's not their money, it's
Speaker 4: the facts payer's money.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 2: Congressman, thanks very much for joining us live today from
Speaker 2: Capitol Hill. That's Republican Congressman Norman of South Carolina, of course,
Speaker 2: member of the House Budget Committee. As that markup is
Speaker 2: still underway.
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Speaker 3: It's great to have you with us on the Thursday
Speaker 3: edition here on Bloomberg Radio, on the satellite radio, and
Speaker 3: on YouTube, where you can find us right now by
Speaker 3: searching Bloomberg Business News Live. We're standing by to hear
Speaker 3: news at least we're told on reciprocal tariffs today from
Speaker 3: the White House. A little more than a half an
Speaker 3: hour from now, President Trump will be back in the Oval.
Speaker 3: This is like a daily thing, right. I mean, I
Speaker 3: don't even need to tell you. They're going to bring
Speaker 3: the press pool in the Oval office and he's going
Speaker 3: to start talking when he feels like it. That'll be
Speaker 3: sometime in the next hour. There's an executive action that's
Speaker 3: supposed to be on the table that will involve reciprocal tariffs.
Speaker 3: The President talking about it earlier, promising the big one, right,
Speaker 3: he said, this is the big day. We'll see what
Speaker 3: that involves. There's the tweet for you if you're with us,
Speaker 3: or the truth right if you're with us on YouTube.
Speaker 3: Three great weeks perhaps the best ever, but today is
Speaker 3: the big one. He writes reciprocal tariffs. We'll find out.
Speaker 3: We don't know. We've heard a lot of tariff threats.
Speaker 3: Of course, he's already threatened twenty five percent tariffs against Canada,
Speaker 3: and Mexico backed away from the line. There were some concessions.
Speaker 3: As we discussed. You're involving troops on the border. He's
Speaker 3: promised additional tariffs to go into effects soon on steel
Speaker 3: and aluminum. And here's the news. Our trading partners are
Speaker 3: not waiting around to find out. Enter the Premiere of Saskatchewan.
Speaker 3: I told you he was coming to talk to us
Speaker 3: here in person. Scott Mowe is one of thirteen premiers
Speaker 3: down from our neighbor from the North to make the
Speaker 3: case for ongoing trade partnerships here in North America. It's
Speaker 3: great to have you with us at the table. Thank
Speaker 3: you for making part of us, part of your day
Speaker 3: here in Washington.
Speaker 6: Thank you for making time.
Speaker 3: You're meeting with a lot of stakeholders. You had spoken
Speaker 3: before you left Canada about meeting with law Mamansker, senators,
Speaker 3: maybe governors, but also and maybe most importantly, cabinet officials,
Speaker 3: members of the administration was the White House accommodating.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, certainly, And again from Saskatchewan's perspective, these relationships
Speaker 6: with policymakers, whether they be in Congress, in the Senate
Speaker 6: or part of the administration. We've made it a priority
Speaker 6: for the last decade and a half to be in
Speaker 6: DC a number of times throughout the year and to
Speaker 6: foster these relations because they're important to us, and I
Speaker 6: think they're important really to what our goal is is
Speaker 6: for Saskatchewan to be part of creating that continental energy,
Speaker 6: food and manufacturing security system.
Speaker 3: I want the whole elevator pitch. I want to hear
Speaker 3: what you're telling people in these meetings. But first, what
Speaker 3: does the administration want from you? You put ten thousand
Speaker 3: troops on the border, You've made an agreement to crack
Speaker 3: down on fentanel illegal border crossings. What else would remove
Speaker 3: this threat from hanging over your head?
Speaker 6: Well, I think when it comes to priorities that have
Speaker 6: been raised by the President, when it whether it be
Speaker 6: fentanyl or securing our border, whether it be our forty
Speaker 6: ninth parallel or mutually our North American ports, we need
Speaker 6: to always be looking to do better. And when it
Speaker 6: comes to fentanyl. That's not a drug at all. It's
Speaker 6: a poison. It's killing people north end south of the
Speaker 6: forty ninth parallel, and we need to do our level
Speaker 6: best to eradicate it from our communities and eradicate it
Speaker 6: from the hands and pockets of friends and all too
Speaker 6: often family members. And so we're committing to do that
Speaker 6: in Saskatchewan and pushing our federal government and our the
Speaker 6: provincial efforts. Were part of the ten thousand folks on
Speaker 6: the board of the security officials on the border, and
Speaker 6: so we're working together, not just because it's a priority
Speaker 6: the president, but it's a priority of all of us
Speaker 6: that live in North America.
Speaker 3: I get that, and I also feel like it wouldn't
Speaker 3: be that hard of a job for you. What I
Speaker 3: understand was forty something pounds of fentanyl across the northern
Speaker 3: border last year versus twenty one thousand through our southern border.
Speaker 3: You can get your arms.
Speaker 6: Around that can Yeah, well, all of those pounds are
Speaker 6: problem or a problem. And so what I would say
Speaker 6: is when you look at the you know, the fentanyl
Speaker 6: deaths in Saskatchewan communities or Canadian communities, it's very similar
Speaker 6: per capita to what we're seeing in the US, and
Speaker 6: so we need to work together to get that drug
Speaker 6: out of the hands of anyone that lives in North America.
Speaker 3: Your biggest trading partner as a province is the United States.
Speaker 3: The most important thing you sell the US is crude oil.
Speaker 3: If these tariffs take effect, if we get into some
Speaker 3: kind of a trade work, can you replace that business?
Speaker 3: Can you sell that oil to someone else?
Speaker 6: The crude oil is a little more difficult. We sell
Speaker 6: crude oil, potash, uranium, agri food products, and our goal
Speaker 6: is always to create that continental energy and food security.
Speaker 6: From our province's perspective, it will those products will start
Speaker 6: to float to other places around the world. But at
Speaker 6: the end of the day, not only is the United
Speaker 6: States of America our largest trading partner North and South.
Speaker 6: There are most trusted and important ally as Canadians and
Speaker 6: as fellow North Americans, and so our goal isn't to
Speaker 6: sell those products somewhere else. Our goal is to continue
Speaker 6: with the relationship with the United States because quite honestly,
Speaker 6: that oil is coming to US refineries and it's creating
Speaker 6: jobs in places like Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, down into Louisiana
Speaker 6: and Texas. So the trade relationship is strong. We understand
Speaker 6: there's some some discussion about you know what that's going
Speaker 6: to look like moving forward, and that's why we're here.
Speaker 3: You can mention potash. Yeah, you put out a tweet
Speaker 3: that got our attention here with a nice shot of
Speaker 3: a big mac on it. You must have gotten Donald
Speaker 3: Trump's attention with this. From growing wheat, you say, for
Speaker 3: the bun to corn, for the cattle. It turns out
Speaker 3: the secret ingreding into the big mac is potash. A
Speaker 3: tariff on Canadian potash is attacks on American's food. Is
Speaker 3: that part of your argument when you sit down in
Speaker 3: these meetings?
Speaker 6: What's a fact?
Speaker 3: You know how much he likes a big mac. You're
Speaker 3: not going to raise the price on this, are you.
Speaker 6: I think there's about nine Well we're not going to.
Speaker 6: But there's about nine million tons of potash that come
Speaker 6: down into the corn belt in the US. Ninety that
Speaker 6: comes from Saskatchewan. Thirty five percent of the world's potash
Speaker 6: comes from Saskatchewan. There really is no other market for
Speaker 6: that product unless you want to start purchasing from Russia.
Speaker 6: So you know, here in lies the importance of the
Speaker 6: trading relationship we have we understand, you know that the
Speaker 6: President has is making some efforts to reset trade relationships,
Speaker 6: and it starts with Canada and Mexico, but likely going
Speaker 6: to extend beyond.
Speaker 3: So what do you get in the other direction when
Speaker 3: you sit down on these meetings? Do you feel good?
Speaker 3: Were you were you guys high fiving leaving the White House?
Speaker 6: I don't know for high fiving, but certainly encouraged. And again,
Speaker 6: this is building on relationships that are not new for
Speaker 6: us from Saskatchewan. We've been down here for fifteen years.
Speaker 3: It's roll of deecks. You're calling the same people you
Speaker 3: were meeting a couple of months ago.
Speaker 6: And more and more, and we've you know, we've we've
Speaker 6: engaged throughout that decade and a half and so you know,
Speaker 6: we feel positive on the relationship. Yeah, there's there's going
Speaker 6: to be some you know, some words and some rhetoric
Speaker 6: back and forth in the meantime, but at the end
Speaker 6: of the day, we have a goal on this to
Speaker 6: get back to that strong trading relationship and we feel
Speaker 6: we can get there.
Speaker 3: The words and the rhetoric of been something the fifty
Speaker 3: first states. Governor Trudeau, where where are we in our relationship? Culturally,
Speaker 3: teach me something about this. You hear the jokes right
Speaker 3: the apartment upstairs above the part America's hat. What do
Speaker 3: Americans need to understand about our most important trade partner.
Speaker 6: Well, I'd say a couple of things. First is Canada
Speaker 6: isn't going to be the fifty first state. That's some
Speaker 6: of the rhetoric that we hear back and forth. That
Speaker 6: being said, Canada and the US are what I think
Speaker 6: has had and will continue to have post this discussion,
Speaker 6: the strongest economic trading relationship in the world, one that
Speaker 6: keeps our continents secure. From time to time, you know,
Speaker 6: the President is raising some topics, whether it be fentanyl,
Speaker 6: whether it be our military commitments, where Canadians have to
Speaker 6: have a look in the mirror and make sure that
Speaker 6: we're doing what we say we were going to do
Speaker 6: and make sure that we certainly are contributing as a
Speaker 6: full partner into that relationship. And so we're doing that,
Speaker 6: as you see, with ten thousand troops on the border,
Speaker 6: We're going to secure that border. We're going to make
Speaker 6: every effort to eradicate fentanyl out of our province. So
Speaker 6: the discussion will go on, but I think our goals
Speaker 6: are the same.
Speaker 3: It's not only a question about what happens at the
Speaker 3: end of this thirty A review however, that is going
Speaker 3: to be rolled out right, but also a full renegotiation,
Speaker 3: it seems of the us mc A. Are these negotiations,
Speaker 3: these talks happening in tandem.
Speaker 6: I wouldn't say they're happening in tandem. You know, we
Speaker 6: have to you know, make decisions and have discussions as
Speaker 6: as they come. Today there's no Secretary of Commerce for
Speaker 6: Canada taxs and negotiate with US, so we have some
Speaker 6: confirmations that have to happen. That being said, we've been
Speaker 6: able to engage, you know, with folks that I've known
Speaker 6: for years. You know, Secretary Burgham, for example, former governor
Speaker 6: of North Dakota, our neighbor to the south, and have
Speaker 6: worked closely with then governor now Secretary Burgham as well
Speaker 6: as Secretary right the Secretary of Energy, important contact for US.
Speaker 6: And you know, those are contacts that you know, we've
Speaker 6: we've had for years and continue to have and and
Speaker 6: we'll work closely with them. They represent obviously the administration's
Speaker 6: interest will represent Saskatchewan and Canada's interests, and we'll find
Speaker 6: our place to that to strong trading relationship.
Speaker 3: Again, does this negotiation of this immediate term twenty five
Speaker 3: percent tarot sun Canada inform whatever the final product is
Speaker 3: for USMC.
Speaker 6: Gang, Well, I think it informs you know where where
Speaker 6: our respective positions are. And you know, let me say
Speaker 6: this and bring us back to the Hamburger tweet or
Speaker 6: the big back tweet if you will. You know, tariffs
Speaker 6: of any kind are not helpful for that strong, effective,
Speaker 6: efficient North American trading economy. They aren't helpful for us
Speaker 6: in providing that continental energy food security that we aspire to.
Speaker 6: Whether there tariffs that are put on by President Trump
Speaker 6: and his administration, whether they're counter tariffs that might be
Speaker 6: considered by Canada or even by Mexico for from that perspective,
Speaker 6: they're not. They're not positive. They're not a positive place
Speaker 6: for us to be heading. However, they may be used
Speaker 6: in a short term to enhance a bargaining position or
Speaker 6: something of that nature. Where we need to be at
Speaker 6: the conclusion of the conversation is back to a very
Speaker 6: robust trading environment providing North Americans, not just Canadians or
Speaker 6: even just Americans, North Americans with the security of our continent.
Speaker 6: The economic security that we aspire to, food, energy security,
Speaker 6: all of those things you hear, you know, words like
Speaker 6: energy dominance. Yes, sure, we can be part of that
Speaker 6: and have been and will be part of that into
Speaker 6: the future, whether it's electricity generation or oil and gas
Speaker 6: which we produce in our area.
Speaker 3: I am struck by how similar a lot of the
Speaker 3: language that you use, a lot of the messaging that
Speaker 3: you're delivering right now, how similar it is to what
Speaker 3: we hear from the administration when it comes to energy dominance,
Speaker 3: when it comes to our military partnership. You're very much
Speaker 3: on the same page on a lot of these things,
Speaker 3: aren't you sure?
Speaker 6: And you know, sometimes in our families and in our
Speaker 6: friends groups, we have some discussions on you know, where
Speaker 6: everybody's going to when and where everybody's going to do
Speaker 6: what probably having one of those discussions right now. In fairness,
Speaker 6: we'll find our way through it. The goals are the same,
Speaker 6: and I'm quite positive, in particular after the last few
Speaker 6: days in Washington, DC, that we will get there, and
Speaker 6: I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
Speaker 3: What are you going to get pipelines for province to
Speaker 3: province oil and gas?
Speaker 6: You know herein lies a very significant discussion for Canada
Speaker 6: moving forward, and we have always been a proponent that
Speaker 6: those need to be built. Yeah, and I think in fairness,
Speaker 6: by the last number of years us not being able to,
Speaker 6: you know, build an East West pipeline in Canada, we
Speaker 6: have diminished our economic opportunities as Canadians and thereby diminished
Speaker 6: our economic economic opportunities as well as North Americans. Everything
Speaker 6: that we do really is in the the guys or
Speaker 6: the under the eye of We're stronger together as nations.
Speaker 6: We live on the same content. Geographically, we're the same.
Speaker 6: Culturally we're very similar. There are some differences. But when
Speaker 6: Canada is doing well, US is doing well. When US
Speaker 6: is doing well, Canada by extension will do well as well.
Speaker 3: Just might not agree on hockey no matter what happens.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, we're always looking for the Edmonton Oilers to
Speaker 6: come through. But a few Canadians down in New York
Speaker 6: playing with the Rangers, young Braden Schneider. He's great and
Speaker 6: I can talk about hockey all day, but I talk a.
Speaker 3: Lot about French Canadian names. And Joe Matsiu, by the way,
Speaker 3: if he ever needs a find me in the phone book.
Speaker 3: Let us know how this goes in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 3: Could you talk to us when you find out what
Speaker 3: happens with this review.
Speaker 6: I'll come right back here. We're down here in a
Speaker 6: couple of weeks. Again, myself will be back in this
Speaker 6: market a couple weeks. I think there's a few premiers
Speaker 6: here next week as well.
Speaker 3: You're one of thirteen in Washington now.
Speaker 6: Is thirteen this week? Two or three coming back next
Speaker 6: week and I'll be back the week after.
Speaker 3: All right, we'll be watching your Twitter feed as well.
Speaker 3: We need to get some big max for the control
Speaker 3: room producer, James, I'm sure you can work that out
Speaker 3: for us. Forty piece nugget. We'll share it wide. Thank
Speaker 3: you so much, premiere. It's great to meet you and
Speaker 3: appreciate your messaging today here in Washington, d C. Just
Speaker 3: a taste of the conversation that we're talking about. Little
Speaker 3: context you're not going to hear anywhere else as we
Speaker 3: talk reciprocal tariffts, the threat of additional tariffs coming from
Speaker 3: President Trump. That'll be about a half an hour from now.
Speaker 3: As a matter of fact, we'll bring you into the
Speaker 3: Oval Office when we learn more. I'm Joe Matthew and
Speaker 3: Washington will assemble our panel next on the fastest show
Speaker 3: in politics, This is Bloomberg.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch
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Speaker 3: We wait to hear from President Trump on reciprocal teriffs.
Speaker 3: This could be market moving and we will find out
Speaker 3: at some point after one pm exactly what he has
Speaker 3: in mind, having promised the big one today reciprocal tariffs
Speaker 3: against our trading partners. Just as the Prime Minister of
Speaker 3: India arrives for a state visit, someone Donald Trump has
Speaker 3: previously called the King of tariffs, and there is some expectation,
Speaker 3: some reporting around the idea of maybe mister Mody shows
Speaker 3: up with a big breaking news gift of lower tariffs
Speaker 3: against the US. We'll see where this goes here. They're
Speaker 3: going to, by the way, be doing a bilateral news
Speaker 3: conference later on in the day. Are we in a
Speaker 3: world here where we get three news conferences with Donald Trump?
Speaker 3: It might actually happen, not all live. I will say
Speaker 3: they're going to have the press pool join the President
Speaker 3: in the Oval office next hour, so we'll have some
Speaker 3: playback on that, but we'll, you know, because we're Bloomberg
Speaker 3: have live headlines for you. This is something right this
Speaker 3: news cycle that we're in here, it's really difficult sometimes
Speaker 3: to know what to pay attention to, and that is
Speaker 3: why we have this program for you every day, a
Speaker 3: beacon in the fog of Washington, where the flashlight in
Speaker 3: the dark of your doom scroll with real news coming
Speaker 3: from Capitol Hill. Today, RFK Junior is going to be
Speaker 3: the nation's new Health Secretary. Once he's sworn in, he's
Speaker 3: got the votes. It all happened earlier today, fifty two
Speaker 3: to forty eight Health and Human Services Secretary, the resistance
Speaker 3: represented by Mitch McConnell and every Democrat. When did you
Speaker 3: think you'd ever hear that the lone Republican joining Democrats
Speaker 3: and opposing the nominee. And that should not be a
Speaker 3: surprise if you have been following along here. It's where
Speaker 3: we start our conversation today with our political panel. Rick
Speaker 3: Davis is with us. Of course, Bloomberg Politics can tribute
Speaker 3: to Republican strategist and partner at Stone Court Capital. Janey
Speaker 3: Wortel is back as well, democratic strategist partner at Art Initiatives.
Speaker 3: Really great to see both of you. Rick, you saw
Speaker 3: this coming and you told us a long time ago
Speaker 3: about this idea of blue Maga having a particular urgency
Speaker 3: within Donald Trump's sphere. Getting former Democrats like Tulsea Gabbard
Speaker 3: and now RFK Junior means what for this administration.
Speaker 7: Well, it was a huge lift to his campaign strategy
Speaker 7: of trying to communicate with disaffected Democrats to come over.
Speaker 7: And I think there's plenty of electoral evidence that that worked.
Speaker 7: And part of those components, and not an insignificant amount,
Speaker 7: was recruiting RFK and Tulca Gabbard over to disaffected Democrats
Speaker 7: who were able to echo, you know, sort of the
Speaker 7: Trump sentiment that you know, Democrats have been left behind.
Speaker 7: And the evidence is overwhelming former Democrats from rural counties,
Speaker 7: especially white men, coming over and voting for Donald Trump,
Speaker 7: and not least of which also include sort of urban
Speaker 7: and suburban African American and Hispanic men under the age
Speaker 7: of forty. So, I mean, whatever the plan was, it worked,
Speaker 7: and that has become sort of the rallying cry around
Speaker 7: Blue Maga and mostly represented within MAGA by RFK and
Speaker 7: Tulca Gabber. So this was a big win for Donald
Speaker 7: Trump because I would say if there was a betting
Speaker 7: pool around cabinet members this last month, and of course
Speaker 7: that would never happen in Washington, I would say RFK
Speaker 7: would be considered probably the single most vulnerable, second only
Speaker 7: to Tulsa Gaber, both of whom are up. You know,
Speaker 7: one got confirmed and the other on the glidepath to go.
Speaker 3: That's something and true enough. Jenney, what do you make
Speaker 3: of that idea of Blue Maga playing a special role
Speaker 3: in this administration? And how worried are you as a
Speaker 3: Democrat we heard this would be the end of vaccines
Speaker 3: and healthcare as we know it.
Speaker 8: Well, I think that you know, we always knew that
Speaker 8: these votes were going to be along party lines, right,
Speaker 8: So these confirmations don't come as a huge surprise. When
Speaker 8: we look at the previous Cabinet secretary confirmations, the votes
Speaker 8: in the Senate fell along party lines, And so I
Speaker 8: think what you see here is kind of this reality
Speaker 8: planning out that many suspected. Right, And when we talk
Speaker 8: about Tilsey Gabbard. When we talk about RFK Junior, we're
Speaker 8: talking about folks who have dangerous ideas, dangerous policies that
Speaker 8: they've been very forthcoming and forthright about, especially as they've
Speaker 8: been interviewed in the media in the weeks leading up
Speaker 8: to these confirmation hearings. And so this is playing out
Speaker 8: much as many Democrats expected, much as many feared. But
Speaker 8: certainly some of these policies that they're proposing, some of
Speaker 8: these ideologies that they've been really forthcoming about and that
Speaker 8: Republicans have rubber stamped, are going to have a really
Speaker 8: harmful effects on the future of his country.
Speaker 3: We just added one to the schedule, Rick, This happens
Speaker 3: every day two pm. Now. We've got the executive Orders
Speaker 3: coming up at one pm Eastern, that's about fifteen minutes away.
Speaker 3: OURFK Junior, who we're talking about right now, is going
Speaker 3: to join the President in the Oval Office for a
Speaker 3: swearing in ceremony at two pm Eastern time. These have
Speaker 3: turned into kind of impromptu news conferences. They put the
Speaker 3: podium right there next to the resolute desk. Rick, what
Speaker 3: do you think we hear from Donald Trump as OURFK
Speaker 3: Junior is sworn in? He in particular asked OURFK Junior,
Speaker 3: for instance, to focus on food and not go after pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 3: Will Washington be able to keep its GLP ones?
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, I think that Donald Trump has used
Speaker 7: these forums really to go off message. And what I
Speaker 7: mean by that is he's got other things he.
Speaker 3: Wants to talk about.
Speaker 7: It's it's not like, uh, these things are finally scripted,
Speaker 7: and so yeah, I suspect what he's going to talk
Speaker 7: about is, you know, all the fraud and abuse that
Speaker 7: that he's been talking about with Elon Musk and the
Speaker 7: Doge crew. Uh, and that we've got to cut to
Speaker 7: the bone at HHS and and and that you know,
Speaker 7: that'll be one of the jobs, because that seems to
Speaker 7: be a common thread now that's running through all his
Speaker 7: press conferences. But it wouldn't surprise me that he goes
Speaker 7: into Middle East peace, talks a little bit about hostages
Speaker 7: getting released on time. I mean, like it, I think
Speaker 7: you can expect the unexpected. But just think about this
Speaker 7: day Mody, which would normally be a major press day
Speaker 7: around a meeting like this, but on top of that,
Speaker 7: he's announcing these trade sanctions, and then on top of that,
Speaker 7: he's going to have, you know, one of his key
Speaker 7: cabinet members swearing and all in the Oval Office.
Speaker 3: Basically, Juday, what do you think about this? I mean,
Speaker 3: we're beyond flooding the zone. This is like a Saturday
Speaker 3: Night Live see every single hour. I'm looking at the schedule.
Speaker 3: He's got four news conferences scheduled for today, and it's
Speaker 3: on the day of a state visit. We've got the
Speaker 3: Prime Minister of India rolling into the White House. Later on,
Speaker 3: there's going to be a bilateral news conference, are going
Speaker 3: to meet in the Oval Office, They've got a dinner,
Speaker 3: and he continues to add events. Is this pace having
Speaker 3: the desired effect?
Speaker 8: I mean, it's a bit of an avalanche, really, right.
Speaker 8: It's kind of non stop, it's unrelenting. I mean, the press,
Speaker 8: I'm sure are exhausted. I'm sure the American people are
Speaker 8: exhausted watching this play out. But look, I think this
Speaker 8: has always been the Trump administration's plan, really just to
Speaker 8: flood the zone, to kind of overwhelm folks with news
Speaker 8: alerts and confirmations and state dinners. Oh my, right, And
Speaker 8: so I think that a lot of this is really
Speaker 8: to ram and kind of force the agenda, but also
Speaker 8: to give folks like so many inflection points around what
Speaker 8: this administration doing. It's really hard for critics, pundits and
Speaker 8: folks to really keep up and have singular lines of
Speaker 8: criticism or pushback because there's just so much happening at once,
Speaker 8: so kind of exhausting the immediate and exhausting the American
Speaker 8: people is kind of the approach that this administration is.
Speaker 3: Really taken exhausting. It is. Rick, you're a communications expert,
Speaker 3: You've spent a career helping elected officials hone their messages
Speaker 3: and deliver them effectively. What do you make of this?
Speaker 7: Well, you know, I don't know if you can use
Speaker 7: the term over exposure because that may be an underestimation.
Speaker 7: But he's getting plenty of airtime. Frankly, he's much busier
Speaker 7: than he was during the campaign to try and become
Speaker 7: president of the United States, And so the question is
Speaker 7: how sustainable is this. Clearly he's taken the initiative and
Speaker 7: it's very hard for his opponents, to either Democrats or
Speaker 7: Republicans who oppose his agenda, to catch up to where
Speaker 7: he is. And he's got an entire administration machine working
Speaker 7: relatively flawlessly. Supporting that. So I think you're going to
Speaker 7: see this for quite some time, and we'll see whether
Speaker 7: or not the public tires of it, you know, or
Speaker 7: whether they feel the pain of some of these cuts
Speaker 7: that are coming down to Pikes. But right now, I
Speaker 7: would say it's very hard to keep up with him,
Speaker 7: and as evidenced by also other world leaders who have
Speaker 7: yet to be able to really react to some of
Speaker 7: his moves on a global stage. And so I would
Speaker 7: say flooding the zone may be the nicest way to
Speaker 7: talk about this avalanche. I thought was a very good term.
Speaker 3: All right, we're sticking with that, Jenny. And here's the thing, Janet,
Speaker 3: there's actually real stuff happening today. I already mentioned RFK Junior.
Speaker 3: I guess he'll get his own news conference. But the
Speaker 3: purge begins today Elon Musk and the doge initiating sweeping
Speaker 3: layoffs of federal employees because not enough of them took
Speaker 3: the buyout. Is the White House stepping on its own
Speaker 3: message because that would play well with the base, or
Speaker 3: intentionally keeping the weave and the swirl going here, So
Speaker 3: we don't pay attention to stuff like this.
Speaker 8: Well, I think I mean this story of doge and
Speaker 8: kind of this purge has been something that's been kind
Speaker 8: of foreshadowed and forecasted for quite some time now, right,
Speaker 8: this idea that folks needed to take this buy out,
Speaker 8: there's been a lot of chatter about that, so it's
Speaker 8: been a bit of a protracted narrative conversation that we've
Speaker 8: been having around this. But I do think that there
Speaker 8: is to the point, there is an effort to have
Speaker 8: all of these other things happening that the media is
Speaker 8: needed to cover that there needs to be attention drawn
Speaker 8: to so that people aren't focused on this. But the
Speaker 8: reality of it is this is affecting thousands and thousands
Speaker 8: of folks. So this is not going to be something
Speaker 8: that's going to fade quietly behind other headlines. This is
Speaker 8: something that is going to resurge as these as these
Speaker 8: layoffs are happening. And think that there's a longer conversation
Speaker 8: that we're going to have given the tremendous impact that
Speaker 8: it's going to have to the federal workforce.
Speaker 3: What do you make of that? Rick, is the point
Speaker 3: to keep us from focusing on any given story? I mean,
Speaker 3: what exactly is the strategy they've got the news media?
Speaker 3: You know, running breathlessly, and I get that part of it,
Speaker 3: but if you're somebody who's sitting at home trying to
Speaker 3: follow along here, it's pretty difficult to understand what's important
Speaker 3: and what's worth paying attention to. Yeah.
Speaker 7: Look, I think that is part of the strategy, is
Speaker 7: just overwhelming force and keep everybody sort of scrambled, and
Speaker 7: when it's time to have somebody focus, it's the President
Speaker 7: himself who comes out and says, this is what I
Speaker 7: want you to think about today. So you'll notice, I
Speaker 7: mean right, nothing on his schedule that we're aware of
Speaker 7: that would indicate a discussion on doge leg. They had,
Speaker 7: you know, with Elon Musk in the Oval office the
Speaker 7: other day. So he dictates the pace and he dictates
Speaker 7: the messaging. I'll notice none of these other cabinet members
Speaker 7: are doing much publicly. I mean they're sort of hunkered down,
Speaker 7: you know, getting confirmed and focusing on what they're doing.
Speaker 7: The only one really making any news this week is
Speaker 7: Pete Hegsett, the Secretary of Defense, who's out sort of
Speaker 7: fronting on some of the discussions related to a peace
Speaker 7: negotiation between Russia and Ukraine, which.
Speaker 3: By the way, you would have thought would have been
Speaker 3: the news.
Speaker 7: Of the week talking to both leaders yesterday, and now
Speaker 7: it's overshadowed by the other six or seven things. So look,
Speaker 7: I mean, I think that the messages were doing a lot.
Speaker 7: They know they have a short period of time to
Speaker 7: get a lot done before you know, the honeymoon is over.
Speaker 7: And I think that's that's all been part of the
Speaker 7: construct of his first one hundred days.
Speaker 3: Producer James and I started the day just by counting
Speaker 3: the top stories. Believe it was five five top stories
Speaker 3: that we're covering in one program here, all of which
Speaker 3: could have been their own program in any normal world.
Speaker 3: As I look back here, yeah, four we have four
Speaker 3: news conferences in one day. Jina, I've only got a
Speaker 3: minute or so left here. But nobody's going to take
Speaker 3: the ozempic away from Capitol Hill, right, you take ozempic
Speaker 3: away from lawmakers, and this whole deal is off. Pharmaceutical
Speaker 3: stocks are all rising on the day that RFK Junior
Speaker 3: is sworn in. What do you think, Well, I.
Speaker 8: Think the reality is listened. The pharmaceutical industry is a
Speaker 8: very powerful run, right, It's a business in and of itself,
Speaker 8: and so I think you've you've got folks who are
Speaker 8: leaned into what this is going to mean for business
Speaker 8: and the potential lack of regulation. I think people are
Speaker 8: going to lean into that and say, is this a
Speaker 8: place where we can make a little bit more money?
Speaker 8: And I think the answer is probably a guess.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, we'll see if we hear from him a
Speaker 3: little bit later on. Of course, we'll bring those remarks
Speaker 3: to you when President Trump speaks, when r FK is
Speaker 3: sworn in, Jay and Jay's up, Phizer's up, Maderna's up.
Speaker 3: What do you know, Let's order some big Max. Thanks
Speaker 3: for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. To subscribe
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Speaker 3: get your podcasts, and you can find us live every
Speaker 3: weekday from Washington, DC at Noontimeeastern at Bloomberg dot com.