If you believe what White House National Economic Council Director, Keven Hassett told George Stephanopolous on ABC’s “This Week” show this morning, the answer is yes.
Here is what Hassett said (the bold print is mine):
“The fact is, the countries are angry and retaliating and, by the way, coming to the table. I got a report from the [U.S. Trade Representative] last night that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation. But they’re doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff. And so, I don’t think that you’re going to see a big effect on the consumer in the U.S. because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent, long-run trade deficit these people have very inelastic supply. They’ve been dumping goods into the country in order to create jobs, say, in China.”
Is that true? Have that many countries already signalled they are ready to deal rather than sustain tariffs that, presumably, were created to address inequities in trade between them and the USA?
If so – and, let’s remember, the “if” here is whether Mr. Hassett is accurately stating what is happening – you can bet more countries will quickly follow suit.
Let’s hope this isn’t Trumpian bluster, it’s the real deal.
