美国国家经济委员会主任凯文·哈塞特(Kevin Hassett)为唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统新公布的50%关税辩护巴西，的美国称此举是政府更广泛的全球关税战略的一部分。
哈塞特在接受美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)“本周”联合主播乔纳森·卡尔(Jonathan Karl)采访时表示，如果总统认为存在国防紧急情况或国家安全威胁，他有权征收新的关税——尽管特朗普给巴西的信强调了针对他的政治盟友、前总统雅伊尔·博索纳罗的刑事案件正在进行中。
“那这怎么会是国家安全威胁呢...巴西是如何处理针对其前总统的刑事案件的?”卡尔问道。
“嗯，这不是唯一的事情，”哈塞特说。
“底线是，我们在每个国家绝对、集体地做的是，我们将生产留在美国，以减少国家紧急情况，也就是说，我们有巨大的贸易逆差，如果我们因为国家安全危机而需要在美国生产，这将使我们处于危险之中，”他补充说。
卡尔指出:“但是，正如我们刚刚确立的那样，我们与巴西的贸易是顺差，而不是逆差。”。
“如果你看一个整体战略，如果你没有一个整体战略，那么就会有转运和其他一切，你不会实现你的目标，”哈塞特说。
当卡尔问及川普最近对美联储主席杰罗姆·鲍威尔的批评时，哈塞特回应了白宫对最近美联储华盛顿总部翻修成本超支的批评。
当被问及成本超支是否可以被用作解雇鲍威尔的借口时，哈塞特说:“我认为总统是否决定沿着这条路走下去将在很大程度上取决于我们对[管理和预算办公室主任]鲁斯·沃特向美联储提出的问题的回答。”。
“回答是或不是。在你看来，总统有权解雇美联储主席吗?”卡尔问道。
“这是一件正在调查的事情，”哈塞特说。但当然，如果有原因的话，他会的。"
以下是哈塞特采访中的更多亮点
关于与欧盟和墨西哥的新关税
卡尔:所以让我问你，因为我们从欧洲人和墨西哥人那里听到的是，他们正在进行这些谈判，这是一种谈判策略，还是这些关税是真实的?
哈塞特:如果总统没有达成他认为足够好的协议，这些关税是真实的，但是，你知道，对话正在进行，我们将看到尘埃落定。底线是，特朗普总统通过我们今年上半年看到的关税产生了巨额关税收入。国会预算办公室表示，未来10年的关税收入将有助于减少赤字，确保我们的福利项目达到3万亿美元，而消费者还没有看到这一点。
你知道，现在的消费者物价指数是十年来最低的。所以特朗普总统一直说的是，外国供应商、外国政府将承担大部分关税。这是显而易见的，我认为这可能会影响他的谈判立场，因为我们已经得到了所有这些经验证据，他的立场已被证明是正确的数据。
关于铜关税
卡尔:让我问你关于总统对进口铜征收50%关税的问题。当然，铜被广泛应用于建筑、工业制造、汽车、手机等领域。这是华尔街日报对这些关税的看法:“川普先生将让美国公司为一种重要的金属支付50%以上的价格，而他们却要等待五年或更长时间才能从美国采购。提高制造飞机、船只和弹药的成本如何促进国家安全?这是国家不安全。”你对华尔街日报有什么看法?
哈塞特:没错。底线是，如果有战争，那么我们需要有生产美国武器所需的金属，铜是许多美国武器的关键组成部分。因此，在我们展望美国面临的威胁时，总统认为美国有大量的铜，但铜产量不足。这也是他迈出这一大步的原因。
卡尔:但在美国制造业加速发展之前，你是否担心铜价上涨的影响?
哈塞特:事实是，你刚才讨论的影响是你提到的，经济学家说这些影响将会持续一整年，通货膨胀率将会大幅下降。事实上，美国的通货膨胀率和欧洲差不多。
White House defends tariffs on Brazil despite trade surplus
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett defended President Donald Trump’s newly unveiled 50% tariff againstBrazil, theUnited States’ second-largest trading partner, saying the move is part of the administration’s broader global tariff strategy.
Speaking with ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Hassett said that the president has the authority to impose new tariffs if he thinks there is a national defense emergency or a national security threat -- though Trump’s letter to Brazil highlighted the ongoing criminal case against his political ally, former President Jair Bolsonaro.
“So how is it a national security threat ... how Brazil is handling a criminal case against its former president?” Karl asked.
“Well, that's not the only thing,” Hassett said.
“The bottom line is that what we're doing absolutely, collectively across every country is we're onshoring production in the U.S. to reduce the national emergency, that is, that we have a massive trade deficit that's putting us at risk should we need production in the U.S. because of a national security crisis,” he added.
“But again, as we've just established, we have a trade surplus with Brazil, not a deficit,” Karl noted.
“If you look at an overall strategy, if you don't have an overall strategy for this, then there'll be transshipping and everything else, and you won't achieve your objectives,” Hassett said.
Pressed by Karl about Trump’s recent criticism of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Hassett echoed the White House’s criticism of recent cost overruns in the renovation of the Fed’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.
"I think that whether the president decides to push down that road or not is going to depend a lot on the answers that we get to the questions that [Office of Management and Budget Director] Russ Vought sent to the Fed," Hassett said when asked if the cost overruns could be used as a pretext to fire Powell.
“Yes or no answer. Does the president, in your view, have the authority to fire the Fed chair?” Karl asked.
That's a thing that's being looked into,” Hassett said. “But certainly, if there's cause, he does.”
Here are more highlights from Hassett's interview
On new tariffs with the European Union and Mexico
Karl:So let me ask you, because what we're hearing from the Europeans and from the Mexicans is they were in the middle of these negotiations as this was, as this was going on, so is this a negotiating tactic, or are these tariffs real?
Hassett:These -- well, these tariffs are real if the president doesn't get a deal that he thinks is good enough, but, you know, conversations are ongoing, and we'll see where the dust settles. The bottom line is that President Trump has produced a huge amount of tariff revenue with the tariffs we've seen in the first half of the year. The Congressional Budget Office has said that tariff revenue over the next 10 years will help reduce the deficit and secure our entitlement programs is $3 trillion and consumers haven't seen that.
You know, Consumer Price Index inflation right now is the lowest it's been in over a decade. And so what President Trump has always said is that the foreign suppliers, the foreign governments are going to bear most of the tariffs. It's being visibly seen, and I think that that's probably affecting his negotiating position because we've got all this empirical evidence that his position has been proven correct in the data.
On copper tariffs
Karl:Let me ask you about the 50% tariff that the president has imposed on copper imports. Copper, of course, is widely used in construction, industrial manufacturing, cars, mobile phones, and the like. This is what The Wall Street Journal had to say about these tariffs: “Mister Trump is going to make U.S. firms pay 50% more for a vital metal while they wait five or more years for U.S. sourcing. How does making it more expensive to build aircraft, ships, and ammunition promote national security? This is national insecurity.” What's your response to The Wall Street Journal?
Hassett:Right. The bottom line is that if there is a time of war, then we need to have the metals that we need to produce American weapons, and copper is a key component in many American weapon sets. And so, as we look forward to the threats that America faces, the president decided that we have plenty of copper in the U.S., but not enough copper production. And that's why he's taken this strong step.
Karl:But are you concerned about the effect of higher copper prices before American manufacturing can get up to speed?
Hassett:The fact is that the effect that you're just discussing is something that you mentioned that economists said were going to be coming all year, these effects, and inflation is way, way down. In fact, inflation in the U.S. is right about the same level as it is in Europe.
