By Bob Bryan
Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for
Treasury secretary, says the top priority of the new Trump
administration will be to cut taxes. Mnuchin, a longtime Goldman Sachs employee and Hollywood
producer, said his support of Trump cost him a few friends along
the way. “There were a lot of people in California and New York who wanted
to stop being friends,” Mnuchin said. Both states were won by
Trump’s Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
“Our first priority is to cut taxes,” Mnuchin said in an
interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box. “We want to cut the corporate
taxes, which will bring back growth.” During the interview, which also included Trump’s choice for
commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, Mnuchin described a plan to cut
the corporate tax rate to 15% from its current 35% level.
On personal taxes, Mnuchin said the planned tax cut from the
Trump administration would not favor the upper class because any
cut for the wealthy would be offset by “closing various
exceptions” in the tax code. He did not specify what these would
be but did say the “absolute level” of upper-class taxes would
not go down.
Mnuchin said the changes in the tax codes would be the largest
changes since those under President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
Trump’s Treasury pick said these tax changes would be able to
bring the US economy to “sustained 3 to 4% GDP growth.” Trump
said multiple times on the campaign trail that 4% growth to gross
domestic product was attainable.
Asked about Trump’s agreement with United Technologies to keep
the production of some Carrier air-conditioning units and nearly
1,000 jobs in the US, Mnuchin said Trump initiated the deal.
“This started because Trump called up the CEO of United
Technologies and told him it’s important to keep jobs in this
country,” Mnuchin told CNBC.
Ross called Trump’s ability to keep the Carrier jobs in the
country “a trade victory before we even come into office.”
On trade, both Mnuchin and Ross said they did not want to be in
regional trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership or the
North American Free Trade Agreement because it was too easy to
give up a large number of concessions during negotiations.
On China, Mnuchin said the administration, when in place, would
evaluate any possible trade-enforcement action against the
country. Trump
has repeatedly accused China of devaluing its currency
against the US dollar to make its exports more competitive.
“If we determine we need to label them a currency manipulator, we
will do so,” Mnuchin said.
Additionally, Mnuchin said he expected interest rates to stay low
for the foreseeable future.
“I think that interest rates are going to stay relatively low for
the next couple of years,” Mnuchin said.
Both Mnuchin and Ross said they were “fans” of Federal Reserve
Chair Janet Yellen, but the two would not comment on whether
she would serve out her term or be reappointed by Trump.
Asked about a possible repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act that has
regulated banks since the financial crisis, Mnuchin said only
that the law was “way too complicated”; he would not say which
parts of the law the new administration would modify. Trump
previously said he would repeal the law, but he recently
backed off those statements.
