Speaker 1: The Biden administration appearing to declare victory on inflation.
Speaker 2: We have seen some turnaround in sentiment in recent months.
Speaker 2: The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index has moved up
Speaker 2: quite a lot. Inflation is now near term at close
Speaker 2: to the lowest levels we've seen in that survey. So
Speaker 2: I think Americans do believe inflations under control.
Speaker 1: Secretary Yeah of making the case for a self landing
Speaker 1: as fourth quarter GDP tops estimates and inflation continues to call,
Speaker 1: I'm pleased to say joining us this program exclusively the
Speaker 1: US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally at Amo, Deputy Treasury Secretary
Speaker 1: Wander for to catch up with you against sir and
Speaker 1: to have a longer conversation about the US economy. Was
Speaker 1: that a declaration of victory on inflation yesterday?
Speaker 3: So I was listening to the show before I came on,
Speaker 3: and you talked about all the people who have changed
Speaker 3: their mind. So the truth is, Secretary Yellen, it's been consistent.
Speaker 3: If you go back a year ago, she made very
Speaker 3: clear that we could grow the economy, bring down inflation,
Speaker 3: and keep a tight labor market. And that's exactly what
Speaker 3: we're doing. What she was saying yesterday was that we
Speaker 3: have seen progress made in terms of making sure that
Speaker 3: the middle class has more money to spend at the
Speaker 3: end of the month. Because gas prices are down a
Speaker 3: dollar ninety. We know that there's more that we need
Speaker 3: to do in terms of trying to make sure that
Speaker 3: we put more pocket in the more money in the
Speaker 3: pockets of the middle class in America. And that's exactly
Speaker 3: what the President of the Secretary committed to doing. We're
Speaker 3: not declaring victory. Rather, we're saying we've made progress and
Speaker 3: we're going to continue to make that progress going forward.
Speaker 4: Deputy Secretary, why do you think there is such a
Speaker 4: huge gap between the sentiment and the economic indicators that
Speaker 4: seem to be making a really positive case for the economy.
Speaker 3: I think the most important thing we have to continue
Speaker 3: to remember, and I just came back from a trip
Speaker 3: literally around the world, is that people are still impacted
Speaker 3: by the pandemic and the ways that it impacted their lives.
Speaker 3: But the thing we have going for us in the
Speaker 3: United States is that because of the work that our
Speaker 3: businesses have done, the American people have done, we're better
Speaker 3: positioned as an economy to deal with that. You think
Speaker 3: about the investments we made in things like the Advanced
Speaker 3: Child Tax Credit, which gave the American families tax relief
Speaker 3: in the midst of the pandemic, and the relief that
Speaker 3: we gave to small businesses. And today we've seen sixteen
Speaker 3: million applications for new small businesses in America. We're seeing progress.
Speaker 3: But what I know that has happened to the American people,
Speaker 3: but people around the world, is that the pandemic had
Speaker 3: an impact that has in lots of ways still continuing.
Speaker 3: But our economy is better positioned today than any economy
Speaker 3: of a major of major country around the world because
Speaker 3: of the decisions and choices the President and the Secretary
Speaker 3: have made and our goals to make sure that we
Speaker 3: continue from that position of strength to invest in the
Speaker 3: American economy.
Speaker 4: Debut. Secretary, you're talking about getting more dollars in people's pockets,
Speaker 4: and we heard Janet Yellen, a Treasure Secretary, yesterday, talking
Speaker 4: about the potential for prolonging some of the tax cuts
Speaker 4: for people making less than four hundred thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 4: How concerned are you the getting additional dollars in people's
Speaker 4: pockets will just fuel another round of inflation, which really
Speaker 4: gave people a lot of the negativity to start with.
Speaker 3: I think the most important thing that we should look
Speaker 3: at is one of the biggest drivers of the inflationary
Speaker 3: I pressions we saw in our economy was on the
Speaker 3: supply side. Supply chains were snarled, and you've see in
Speaker 3: a huge decrease in supply chain challenges in the economy.
Speaker 3: Energy is a great place to start. Just look at
Speaker 3: what we've seen in terms of the dollar nine dy
Speaker 3: reduction in the cost of gas, but throughout our supply chains,
Speaker 3: we've seen them improved to put us in a better
Speaker 3: position to meet the demand in the economy. And it's
Speaker 3: important to remember what the Secretary said for the middle class,
Speaker 3: we're not going to increase their taxes. We're going to
Speaker 3: look for ways to provide relief to families, but we're
Speaker 3: also going to look to modestly increase taxes on the wealthy,
Speaker 3: on large corporations, because the Secretary and the President believe
Speaker 3: that over the medium term, we need to make sure
Speaker 3: that we have a fiscally sustainable outlook, which is very
Speaker 3: different than the last administration.
Speaker 5: Well, you just got back from Japan, and I understand
Speaker 5: that Syphius is still under review for Japan's takeover of
Speaker 5: US Steel. We have the Prime Minister of Japan joining
Speaker 5: US for a state dinner upcoming in April. Will we
Speaker 5: get a decision on this soon?
Speaker 3: So, as you know, we don't talk about any syfious
Speaker 3: cases if they exist or if they don't publicly, it's
Speaker 3: a private it's a private matter. If there's a CFIUS case.
Speaker 3: What I can say is that CIFIUS is a process
Speaker 3: of been set up to look at national security risk
Speaker 3: and make sure that we in the United States, as
Speaker 3: we support foreign direct investment in the United States, we're
Speaker 3: also very mindful of the national security risk that some
Speaker 3: foreign direct investment presents. Stepping away from a specific case,
Speaker 3: one of the things that we believe deeply in is
Speaker 3: the importance of a yawn of strong US steel industry.
Speaker 3: That's why we've made investments like the Inflation Reduction Act
Speaker 3: and the investments that we've made in rebuilding our infrastructure.
Speaker 3: And ultimately, what we want to see is more companies
Speaker 3: like US Steel in the United States that have union
Speaker 3: workers or paid a good living wage. And that's exactly
Speaker 3: why we're making the investments we're making. The US economy today.
Speaker 5: But I'm looking at your readout and it says the
Speaker 5: Deputy Secretary thanked his government counterparts for Japan's leadership. How
Speaker 5: is this the national security concern when it's one of
Speaker 5: the United States strongest allies in the Asia Pacific.
Speaker 3: So, as I said, I'm not able to talk about
Speaker 3: whether there is a case or isn't their case when
Speaker 3: it comes to pacipious process is one that will work
Speaker 3: through and take some time, and I expect that any
Speaker 3: Sofia's case that comes through will be treated in a
Speaker 3: manner that's consistent with the law. And ultimately, Congress passed
Speaker 3: the law that gave Sophius certain authorities, and we plan
Speaker 3: to do our jobs in terms of reviewing the national
Speaker 3: security risk of any transaction that comes a Forsyphius. One
Speaker 3: of the.
Speaker 5: Policies you were discussing, of course, in Japan, was the
Speaker 5: future of what is going on with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Speaker 5: Where are you in the status of talks with your
Speaker 5: partners about Russia's assets. Do you see a legal path
Speaker 5: forward with Russia's stranded assets to give them to Ukraine?
Speaker 3: Samory, As you mentioned, one of the topics of conversation
Speaker 3: amongst the G seven and our coalition more broadly, is
Speaker 3: how we make sure that Russia compensates Ukraine for the
Speaker 3: damage they've done to their economy. Our leaders at the
Speaker 3: beginning of the war immobilized Russia's sovereign assets that were
Speaker 3: held in our countries so Putin couldn't use them to
Speaker 3: fund his illegal war. Now they've said very clearly that
Speaker 3: Putin is not getting back those assets until he pays
Speaker 3: for the damage that's been done in Ukraine. And they've
Speaker 3: asked US experts amongst the G seven to think about
Speaker 3: what we can do to try and compensate the Ukrainians
Speaker 3: for the damage that's been done in Europe. They're talking
Speaker 3: about things like windfall profit taxes, for debating a number
Speaker 3: of other ideas, with the idea being that ultimately we
Speaker 3: need to make sure that Russia is the one that
Speaker 3: pays to help rebuild Ukraine in order to make sure
Speaker 3: they have a thriving economy as well as a thriving democracy.
Speaker 1: Deputy Secretary, appreciate your time this morning. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to squeeze in one further question actually about trade. The
Speaker 1: former president is on the campaign trail talking at the
Speaker 1: potential of a blanket ten percent tariffs on imports since
Speaker 1: the United States this administration has maintained tariffs on China
Speaker 1: from the previous administration. What is your position on that now?
Speaker 3: So, I think the blanket ten percent tariff that isn't
Speaker 3: well targeted would hurt the American people. And what we've
Speaker 3: done instead of looking to simply do blanket tariffs is
Speaker 3: try to work with our allies and partners to hold
Speaker 3: China accountable for the things that they are doing that
Speaker 3: violate trade rules going forward, because ultimately, what we know
Speaker 3: is that the best way to make sure that China
Speaker 3: lives by the rules of the road that we've all
Speaker 3: set is by doing that with our allies and partners
Speaker 3: rather than taking a go at loan approach. That's exactly
Speaker 3: what the President's going to continue to do.
Speaker 1: Do you think the US car manufacturers can compete with
Speaker 1: Chinese automakers without those tariffs.
Speaker 3: I think the US car manufacturers can compete with anyone
Speaker 3: in the world if they're playing on a level playing field.
Speaker 3: And the problem today for them is that in China
Speaker 3: there are subsidies that are being given to not only Carcum,
Speaker 3: but throughout the ecosystem that are making the possible to
Speaker 3: produce cars that are lost leaders. And ultimately the reason
Speaker 3: that in the United States but also in Europe people
Speaker 3: are concerned about Chinese vehicles flooding the market is because
Speaker 3: they're being produced in ways that violate basic trade rules,
Speaker 3: and it's why we're looking all at our options here.
Speaker 3: But I know that Europe is also looking at their
Speaker 3: options to ensure that we don't end up in a
Speaker 3: place where Chinese over capacity floods our markets.
Speaker 1: What did those options look like, sir.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not going to get into them with you here,
Speaker 3: but we're having serious conversations with our allies and partners
Speaker 3: to ensure that we're in a position to make sure
Speaker 3: that our companies are able to compete on a level
Speaker 3: playing field.
Speaker 1: That's why we do those interviews, Wally, we try and
Speaker 1: make it happen. Well, you appreciate your time that the
Speaker 1: US Deputy Treasury Secretary