Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, Wall Street's biggest banks
Speaker 1: looking for some clarity on policy. JP Morgan's Jamie Timon
Speaker 1: urging Trump to start talks with China and telling the
Speaker 1: ft quote, we should be careful. I don't think anyone
Speaker 1: should assume they have a divine right to success and
Speaker 1: therefore don't worry about it. Joining us now to discuss
Speaker 1: the former Republican House Majority leader Eric Cancer. Eric, welcome
Speaker 1: to the program, So welcome back. It's good to see it.
Speaker 2: Nice to be here, Jonathan.
Speaker 1: Let's reach that. What do you make of the approach
Speaker 1: from the administration to trade over the last few weeks.
Speaker 3: Well, listen, I mean there are so many there's so
Speaker 3: much noise, so many signals coming from the White House
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 2: I think that.
Speaker 3: Market players are just, you know, sort of trying to
Speaker 3: take a step back and figure out if they have
Speaker 3: a portfolio of companies, you know, what it is that
Speaker 3: they look like, if they're import sensitive. Obviously, there's now
Speaker 3: a little bit more focus on what's coming out every
Speaker 3: single day of the White House. I think the imperative
Speaker 3: for the President and his team today as we're meeting
Speaker 3: with Japan is to demonstrate success. I mean, this is
Speaker 3: where I think people are looking for some amount of
Speaker 3: clarity and that what does it mean when we're supposed
Speaker 3: to be enduring some pain and the president's been pretty
Speaker 3: clear said hey, we've got we're going to change sort
Speaker 3: of the trajectory of the country.
Speaker 2: We're going to strengthen the foundation. And if that's the case, what.
Speaker 3: Does it really look like when he's dealing with the
Speaker 3: counterparty and if it's Japan and I would say even India,
Speaker 3: because India is the one that is most protectionist, that
Speaker 3: comes to mind. If we can demonstrate there's an opening
Speaker 3: up of that marketsa this is what it's all about.
Speaker 3: I think that that would calm some nerves right now.
Speaker 1: Are you convinced that is the metric for success?
Speaker 3: Well, I think you know there is at leasta you
Speaker 3: talked about sort of taking him literally, taking him seriously
Speaker 3: or hinted of that what you just said. And I
Speaker 3: look at this term of the Trump administration somewhat differently
Speaker 3: than the way we look at the last one in
Speaker 3: that almost he is sticking to his little word when
Speaker 3: we're talking about tariffs and trade here.
Speaker 2: So Jonathan, back to your question.
Speaker 3: If he's about trade deficits, because that's been one of
Speaker 3: the real metrics that he's put out there consistently.
Speaker 2: That's what it's about.
Speaker 3: So who are we going to see the Japanese buying
Speaker 3: more of our goods? Are we going to see that
Speaker 3: along with the opening up of their markets so that
Speaker 3: our exports can flow into these other countries.
Speaker 4: The President ran though, on hutting everyday goods down in prices,
Speaker 4: things like groceries, things like gas. A recent CBS poll
Speaker 4: says the majority of American sea tariffs adding to prices,
Speaker 4: adding to inflation. Can they wrap this up before the midterms?
Speaker 2: Well, this is the and then this brings up the
Speaker 2: last point.
Speaker 3: I think that's really important about today, and when we
Speaker 3: look at Capitol Hill when Congress gets bad, I think
Speaker 3: the administration and the Republicans need to act with dispatch.
Speaker 3: It's important that the get there is some success under
Speaker 3: the belt demonstrably, so the markets see that in terms
Speaker 3: of dealing with countries, and I think from the Republican
Speaker 3: standpoint in Congress, they've got to get this reconciliation bill done.
Speaker 3: Simplicity is their friend right now. Adding additional taxes doing
Speaker 3: those kinds of things is going to take weeks, if
Speaker 3: not months, to bring everyone on board. And I think
Speaker 3: if we can just extend what President Trump had said
Speaker 3: was the greatest tax bill ever twenty seventeen, they should
Speaker 3: just go ahead and do that.
Speaker 4: If I had said to you, Congress right now is
Speaker 4: debating whether or not to raise taxes on people that
Speaker 4: make a million dollars a year. Would you think that
Speaker 4: came from a Republican or a Democrat.
Speaker 3: It is an extraordinary concept coming out of what I
Speaker 3: believe is still a very pro growth party. And I think,
Speaker 3: as I think you've been discussing this morning, the three
Speaker 3: legs of the stool of the Trump Economic Plan. One
Speaker 3: of them is taxes, the other deregulation. Along with the
Speaker 3: trade agenda, all that has to come together to help
Speaker 3: growth in this country, to see incomes rise, wages, growth, wealth,
Speaker 3: all of it opportunity. And to sit here and say
Speaker 3: that we are going to be increasing marginal rates on
Speaker 3: individuals that ends up hurting small businesses. I mean, that's
Speaker 3: the trick there. When they start talking about millionaires. Remember
Speaker 3: we've got a lot of people in this country that
Speaker 3: file taxes, that have subs or LPs or that are
Speaker 3: taxed at the individual level, but actually run businesses. And
Speaker 3: I don't think they're going to get too far with
Speaker 3: that concept.
Speaker 4: But what if they do. This is a pillar of
Speaker 4: conservative orthodoxy, not to raise taxes period on anyone. What
Speaker 4: do you make of the party in the direction of
Speaker 4: travel if they were to go ahead with this, Well, again.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure that they're going to go ahead with this.
Speaker 3: So they're discussing, well, I'm not so sure how widespread
Speaker 3: that discussion is and what kind of enthusiasm there is.
Speaker 3: This is not a pro growth item, and I think
Speaker 3: more of the focus is going to be on how
Speaker 3: they come together on these pay fors because we saw
Speaker 3: again the important data point that occurred last week was
Speaker 3: the bond markets.
Speaker 2: We saw the concern.
Speaker 3: There about the fiscal health going forward, and I think
Speaker 3: it's really important they focus on that so they can
Speaker 3: act with dispatch and get these tax rates extended.
Speaker 5: Heading into this year, the belief was that President Trump
Speaker 5: was going to be a pro business president who is
Speaker 5: going to focus on fiscal responsibility as well as celebrating
Speaker 5: national champions. We have seen policies that have reached the
Speaker 5: opposite consequences in markets. Do you think that this President
Speaker 5: is still pro growth.
Speaker 2: I do think he's a business guy.
Speaker 3: I mean, we all know he's a real estate developer
Speaker 3: from New York City that was very successful and had
Speaker 3: times here where just like any in the real estate business,
Speaker 3: they are ups and downs. But he has demonstrated the
Speaker 3: ability in business to create wealth.
Speaker 2: And I think he wants to do that for America.
Speaker 3: And so yes, I think he is now what he's
Speaker 3: going about doing in re ordering our economy and trying
Speaker 3: to sort.
Speaker 2: Of rebalance, if you will, the balance of trade as
Speaker 2: well as the burden.
Speaker 3: Sharing that occurs with US and our allies, importantly in
Speaker 3: the financial realm as well as the defense realm.
Speaker 5: Although you have a unique position because you wear the
Speaker 5: hat of both being in government in a leadership position
Speaker 5: and also talking with tons of companies while being vice
Speaker 5: chair of molus. Do they have the confidence to invest?
Speaker 5: Do they feel like they can be expanding right now
Speaker 5: and have confidence and conviction that ultimately this whole mix
Speaker 5: will benefit where they're heading?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean I would say, first of all, we're
Speaker 3: still America, right, I Mean, there is still this unbelievable
Speaker 3: country that we've got with and we can go through
Speaker 3: the various aspects of what draws capital and investors here,
Speaker 3: rule of law, transparency, you name it, innovation, the rest.
Speaker 3: We're still that the Trump administration understands. The President in
Speaker 3: particular has said the biggest asset we've got is this
Speaker 3: huge consumer market that the world now has tooled up
Speaker 3: to take advantage of, and he's trying to use that
Speaker 3: to go in and create a more stable trajectory longer term,
Speaker 3: both from a fiscal and economic standpoint. So I think
Speaker 3: listen right now, as we started, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: signals that are creating this sort of question on the
Speaker 3: minds of individuals, whether they are strategics, whether they are sponsors,
Speaker 3: and how to go about in terms of conducting their business.
Speaker 3: And that's why I say again, really really important that
Speaker 3: we see manifestation of success.
Speaker 2: You know, the present's really good at communicating.
Speaker 3: I hope we can see some communication of success and
Speaker 3: that people will begin to understand what the trade off
Speaker 3: here is.
Speaker 1: This is ambitious stuff. Let's finish on this. Governor. Youngki
Speaker 1: is in your seat yesterday and we asked him this question.
Speaker 1: I'll phrase it differently. At the moment, there are two
Speaker 1: very left wing politicians in this country Philly stadiums. Getting
Speaker 1: support at a time in the Democratic part is an
Speaker 1: absolute mess in supporters rock Bottom. I get that, But
Speaker 1: do you worry that if the president isn't successful that
Speaker 1: a number of years time this pendulum could swing aggressively
Speaker 1: to the left. If the right can't provide the solutions,
Speaker 1: does this country seacunt solutions from the left?
Speaker 2: Look, all I know is the left is so in tatters, and.
Speaker 3: The one pillar that they've got of any kind of
Speaker 3: unity is so extreme on the cultural side and the
Speaker 3: design of where they see the world. There is no
Speaker 3: way that the mass of this country, in terms of
Speaker 3: an electorate, is going to adhere to that extreme Bernie
Speaker 3: Sanders AOC agenda. There is just no way now not
Speaker 3: to say that there will be unhappiness if we don't
Speaker 3: see success again. Which is why I come back to
Speaker 3: the point it's important that we act with that we
Speaker 3: see some urgency and acting with dispatch in Washington.
Speaker 1: Because you understand the risk here to bring up the
Speaker 1: em example that you swing between Bolsonnaro and Lula. Bolscenaro
Speaker 1: and Lula start to resemble what we see in Latin America. Repeatedly,
Speaker 1: we are America.
Speaker 2: We are America.
Speaker 3: We are not Brazil, right, so we have a long
Speaker 3: tradition of continued institutional guardrails, protections. We have the deepest,
Speaker 3: broadest capital markets there are. I still believe that we
Speaker 3: can get through this. Again, as you said, this is
Speaker 3: a very ambitious goal that the president has set out
Speaker 3: to sort of rebalance. It is where we can head.
Speaker 3: And the fact that there have been some people left out,
Speaker 3: and when you talk about these stadiums that are filled
Speaker 3: by Bernie Sanders and aoc accolytes, it is those people
Speaker 3: that are looking for the answers and frankly a lot
Speaker 3: of sort of people who feel left out if there
Speaker 3: are those stadiums. They are looking to the president to
Speaker 3: deliver on the promises.
Speaker 2: That he's made.
Speaker 1: It's an ambitious agenda. We've said it repeatedly on this program.
Speaker 1: For the good of the country. We hope he's successful.
Speaker 1: Eric is good to see it. Thanks for droving night
Speaker 1: the former House majority to their Eric cancer