Enhance Your English with U.S. Government News – Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Scott Bessent Brief Members of the Media, 2025. 4. 29.

0:01 Mrs. Leavitt: Good morning, everybody. 0:02 The Press: Good morning. 0:04 Mrs. Leavitt: Happy first 100 days. 0:06 Before we begin, I want to acknowledge that the bipartisan 0:09 Take It Down Act passed the House last night. 0:12 This important legislation was championed 0:14 and guided through Congress 0:15 by our wonderful First Lady, Melania Trump, 0:18 including through her direct advocacy 0:20 on behalf of survivors during the passage efforts. 0:25 The Take It Down Act criminalizes the publication 0:27 of non-consensual intimate imagery, 0:30 and require social media and similar websites 0:33 to remove such content within 48 hours of notice from a victim. 0:37 The First Lady thanks all those 0:39 who voted in favor of this important legislation, 0:42 and the President looks forward to signing it 0:44 when it arrives on his desk. 0:46 Today officially marks 100 Days of promises made 0:49 and promises kept by President Trump. 0:52 This has truly been the most historic start 0:55 to a presidency in American history. 0:57 After building the greatest economy in the world 1:00 in his first term as President, 1:02 President Trump is in the process of doing 1:04 that all over again. 1:06 The American people trust in President Trump. 1:10 Since his first day in office, President Trump has focused 1:12 on defeating the Biden inflation crisis, 1:15 bringing down the cost of living, 1:17 and making the United States the best place in the world 1:20 to do business, invest, create jobs, and innovate. 1:24 And President Trump’s efforts are working. 1:27 345,000 jobs have already been added 1:30 since the start of President Trump’s term. 1:33 Last month’s Jobs Report saw nearly 100,000 more jobs 1:36 than economists predicted, 1:38 and it was the fourth-highest month 1:40 for private payroll growth in the past two years. 1:43 9,000 manufacturing jobs have been added 1:46 to the economy already. 1:48 This is a sharp contrast to the 6,000 1:50 manufacturing jobs that were lost each month 1:53 in the final two years of the Biden administration. 1:57 The US employment rate remains at historic lows. 2:00 And thanks to President Trump, 2:02 Americans are seeing price relief 2:04 for the first time in years. 2:06 The last inflation report showed the first consumer price decline 2:09 since the Covid pandemic, a decrease in energy prices, 2:12 and real average hourly wage growth. 2:15 President Trump is delivering on his promises to lower costs 2:18 for American families and businesses. 2:20 Prices across the board for everyday goods have seen decline 2:23 since this President was inaugurated. 2:25 From airfare to use motor vehicles to prescription drugs, 2:29 prices are dropping. 2:31 In fact, last month’s drop in the price of prescription drugs 2:34 was the largest ever recorded. 2:36 And after Joe Biden botched the response to the Bird flu, 2:39 President Trump and Secretary Rollin’s aggressive plan 2:42 have brought down wholesale egg prices 2:44 more than 50% from Inauguration Day. 2:47 President Trump ended Joe Biden’s reckless war 2:50 on energy and fossil fuels, 2:52 and has restored American energy dominance. 2:55 And Secretary Wright and Secretary Doug Burgum 2:57 are working hard on that effort every single day. 3:00 Oil and gas prices are now way down 3:02 because of this bold approach. Gasoline price is down 7%. 3:07 Energy prices are also down as well. 3:09 The Department of Interior just announced a new offshore 3:12 drilling policy that will boost oil production 3:14 in the Gulf of America by 100,000 barrels per day. 3:19 On the deregulation front, 3:20 president Trump is committed to cutting senseless red tape, 3:24 especially for America’s small business owners 3:26 who are the backbone of our economy. 3:29 We know cutting regulation leads to lower costs 3:31 and higher growth. 3:33 The mass deregulation effort by this administration 3:35 will help usher in the Golden Age of America, 3:39 which is underway. Immediately upon taking office 3:42 President Trump blocked all of the unfinalized Biden era rules, 3:47 saving Americans more than $100 billion dollars, 3:51 or $2,100 per family of four over the next decade. 3:55 And the President also launched a bold multi-agency effort 3:58 to roll back existing federal regulations 4:01 that drive up the cost of living on hardworking families. 4:04 This effort is projected to yield significant 4:07 cost savings in the coming months, 4:08 including the EPA’s rollback of tailpipe 4:11 emission rules for light duty and medium duty vehicles, 4:14 and the Department of Transportation’s latest 4:16 corporate average fuel economy standards. 4:19 These two efforts alone yield $755 billion in total savings, 4:24 or more than $8,800 per family of four over the next decade. 4:29 In total, the combined savings from all of these actions 4:32 equal just over $935 billion, 4:36 or nearly $11,000 in real savings per family 4:39 of four per the coming decade. 4:41 The press is not talking nearly enough about the positive impact 4:44 of President Trump’s deregulation campaign, 4:47 and investments from the biggest companies and countries 4:50 in the world are pouring in under this President. 4:53 So far, total investment commitments 4:55 under the Trump administration 4:57 have reached more than $5 trillion, 4:59 including $500 billion from Apple in US-based 5:02 manufacturing and training, 5:04 $500 billion from NVIDIA in AI infrastructure, 5:07 $100 billion from TSMC in US-based chips manufacturing, 5:11 and the $500 billion private investment by OpenAI, Oracle, 5:15 and SoftBank in AI infrastructure as well. 5:18 All of these investment commitments are estimated 5:21 to generate at least 451,000 new high paying jobs 5:26 for American workers and families. 5:29 At this point, President Trump has secured more investments 5:32 in the United States of America in 100 days 5:34 than Joe Biden did in four years. 5:37 President Trump is America’s Businessman in Chief, 5:40 and that’s why these trillions of dollars in investments 5:42 are flooding to our country. 5:45 The business community is bullish on America 5:47 because President Trump is back in charge. 5:50 Tomorrow the President will host CEOs and leaders 5:53 from several companies that have made these investments 5:55 to tout their historic commitments to our country 5:57 and encourage others to follow suit. 6:00 Under President Trump, there has never been a better time 6:03 to invest in America. And the President finally said, 6:06 enough is enough and refused to allow America 6:09 and our workers to be ripped off any longer on trade. 6:13 President Trump implemented powerful tariffs 6:15 to end the era of economic surrender 6:17 and to rebalance America’s trading agreements. 6:20 More than 100 countries have already come to the table 6:23 looking to offer more favorable terms for America 6:27 and our people. 6:28 There has never been a president who has created his own leverage 6:31 like this president, and we are just getting started. 6:34 Republicans in Congress are getting very close 6:36 to passing president Trump’s one big, beautiful bill, 6:39 which will include the largest tax cuts in American history, 6:42 strong border security measures, major military advancements, 6:46 dramatic deregulation and common sense spending reforms. 6:50 As President Trump has said before, the best is yet to come. 6:54 For more on President Trump’s economic successes so far, 6:56 and the plans ahead, 6:58 I want to pass it off to our incredible 7:00 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is here today 7:03 and we will open it up to questions. 7:05 In our new media seat, we have Brendan Pearson, 7:07 the financial services reporter for Punchbowl News. 7:10 Punchbowl News covers power, 7:11 people and politics based in Washington DC. 7:14 Laser focused on Capitol Hill, the politics of legislating. 7:18 Founded in 2021 and it is the first newsletter 7:21 that Capitol Hill and the White House 7:22 reads every morning in the middle of the day 7:25 and throughout the evening. 7:26 Thanks for being here with us and we’ll start with you today. 7:30 The Press: Thanks so much for being here. 7:32 I have a question for Secretary Bessent. 7:35 On tariffs, the president said over the weekend 7:38 that we are hoping 7:40 that maybe tariff revenues could replace income tax. 7:44 But we also keep hearing about the deals 7:47 that the administration is pursuing. 7:49 So my question is, 7:50 what is the White House’s ultimate objective here? 7:54 Do you want to have long-term tariff revenue? 7:57 Or deals that might reduce those tariffs? 8:01 Mr. Bessent: I think it’s a combination of both. 8:03 So we’re going to take in long-term tariff revenue. 8:05 We put a process in place. 8:07 We have 18 important trading relationships. 8:11 We will be speaking to all of those partners, 8:15 or at least 17 of them over the next few weeks. 8:18 Many of them have already come to Washington. 8:21 What President Trump is referring to 8:23 is the ability for tariff revenue 8:26 to give income tax relief. 8:28 And I think there’s a very good chance 8:30 that we will see this in the upcoming tax bill. 8:33 The president campaigned on no tax on tips, 8:36 no tax on social security, no tax on overtime, 8:39 and the restoring interest deductibility 8:43 for American-made autos. 8:45 So tariff income could be used for tax relief 8:50 on all of those immediately. 8:53 The Press: So you think that there is a role 8:55 for significant tariff revenue in US fiscal policy? 9:00 Mr. Bessent: I think that it is something 9:02 that got put away a long time ago. 9:05 And I think that tariffs will bring back 9:08 American manufacturing 9:10 and generate substantial revenues. 9:12 The Press: On manufacturing, 9:15 we’ve seen some pretty grisly surveys 9:16 this month from the Philly Fed, 9:19 which saw the biggest drop since May of 2020, 9:22 and the Dallas Fed, similar plunging outlook, 9:26 poor shipping orders. 9:28 What are American manufacturers not understanding 9:31 about your push for on-shoring in the US? 9:34 Mr. Bessent: Well, I think I was 9:36 in the investment business 35 years 9:38 and I learned to ignore the survey data, 9:41 or surveys and look at the actual data. 9:43 And the actual data’s been quite good. 9:45 The job data is good. 9:47 Americans keep spending, and as Caroline said, 9:50 we have these incredible commitments 9:52 to bring manufacturing back onshore with record investment 9:57 by domestic corporations and foreigners 10:00 who want to come into the US. 10:02 The Press: Thank you so much, Karoline. 10:03 Thank you, Mr. Secretary. 10:05 The Chinese continue to say that the US and Chinese 10:08 are not engaged in any consultation 10:10 or negotiation on tariffs. 10:13 You recently said you’ve talked to your counterpart, 10:15 but more about traditional things like financial stability. 10:18 So can you clarify, 10:20 is the administration talking to Beijing 10:22 specifically about tariffs, or not? 10:24 Mr. Bessent: Well, we’re not going to talk 10:26 about who’s talking to whom, 10:27 but I think that over time we will see 10:31 that the Chinese tariffs are unsustainable for China. 10:35 I’ve seen some very large numbers over the past few days 10:40 that show if these numbers stay on, 10:43 Chinese could lose 10 million jobs very quickly. 10:46 And even if there is a drop in the tariffs 10:49 that they could lose five million jobs. 10:51 So remember that we are the deficit country. 10:55 They sell almost five times more goods to us 10:58 than we sell to them. 11:00 So the onus will be on them to take off these tariffs. 11:06 They’re unsustainable for them. 11:08 The Press: And they are saying 11:09 you guys are not talking about it. 11:11 So is that true? 11:13 Mr. Bessent: They have a different form of government. 11:14 They’re playing to a different audience. 11:17 So I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty again 11:22 of who’s talking to whom. 11:24 But as I said, I believe for the Chinese, 11:28 these tariffs are unsustainable. 11:30 The Press: And very quickly, two days ago 11:31 you said you didn’t know 11:32 if President Trump had spoken to Xi Jinping. 11:35 Do you know now? 11:36 Mr. Bessent: Again, I would say Karoline 11:38 and I have a lot of jobs around the White House. 11:40 Running the switchboard ain’t one of them. 11:41 Mrs. Leavitt: Bloomberg. Go ahead. 11:43 The Press: Secretary Bessent, thank you so much 11:44 for being here this morning. 11:46 You’ve talked about the importance 11:47 of giving investors certainty when it comes to the market. 11:51 Yet the Trump administration is continuing to negotiate 11:55 several complex trade deals in a very compressed timeframe. 12:00 When do you expect you’ll be able to give the markets 12:02 some certainty around those deals? 12:04 Do you have a deadline? 12:05 Is it the 90-day pause? What are we looking at here? 12:08 Mr. Bessent: Good question. 12:09 And I think one thing that has been 12:13 a little disconcerting for the markets 12:15 is President Trump creates what I would call 12:17 “strategic uncertainty” in the negotiations. 12:20 So he is more concerned about getting the best possible trade 12:24 deals for the American people. 12:26 We had four years of bad deals for decades of unfair trading, 12:32 and we are going to unwind those and make them fair. 12:37 What we are doing is we’ve created a process. 12:40 I think the aperture of uncertainty will be narrowing. 12:44 And as we start moving forward announcing deals, 12:48 then there will be certainty, 12:51 but certainty is not necessarily a good thing in negotiating. 12:54 The Press: And Mr. Secretary, 12:55 last night there were reports on the administration 12:59 walking back a little bit on the auto tariffs. 13:01 Can you just elaborate on that decision there 13:05 and what we can expect going forward? 13:07 And why the shift in those auto tariffs? 13:09 Mr. Bessent: Well, President Trump has had meetings 13:11 with both domestic and foreign auto producers, 13:16 and he’s committed to bringing back auto production to the US. 13:21 So we want to give the automakers a pass 13:24 to do that quickly, efficiently and create 13:27 as many jobs as possible. 13:28 Mrs. Leavitt: Jasmine? 13:29 The Press: Thank you so much, Karoline. 13:30 Thank you, Secretary. Back to China, 13:32 does the administration anticipate supply chain shocks 13:36 or supply shocks coming now that cargo shipments from China 13:40 are significantly down? 13:42 And if so, are there plans in the process 13:46 of how to address that? 13:48 Mr. Bessent: I wouldn’t think that we would have supply 13:50 chain shocks. 13:51 And I think retailers have managed 13:54 their inventory in front of this. 13:57 I speak to dozens of companies, sometimes daily, 14:01 but definitely weekly. 14:03 And they know that President Trump is committed to fair trade 14:08 and have planned accordingly. 14:09 The Press: And then second question. 14:11 Can you outline the timeline 14:12 for when you think some of these deals, 14:14 particularly with your Asian countries like India, 14:16 Japan, South Korea, you may have an announcement? 14:19 Mr. Bessent: I’m glad you brought up 14:21 our Asian trading partners and allies. 14:24 They have been the most forthcoming 14:27 in terms of doing the deals. 14:29 As I mentioned, Vice President Vance was in India last week. 14:33 I think that he and Modi made some very good progress, 14:38 so I could see some announcements on India. 14:41 I could see the contours of a deal 14:43 with the Republic of Korea coming together. 14:46 And then we’ve had substantial talks with the Japanese. 14:50 Mrs. Leavitt: Andrea. 14:51 The Press: Secretary Bessent, 14:53 just continuing on the path of the progress. 14:56 You said yesterday, I think, 14:58 that it could happen as early as this week or possibly next week. 15:02 Can you give us a bit of a timetable? 15:04 And then I wanted to ask about South Korea, specifically. 15:08 They’ve said that they probably won’t be able 15:09 to make a comprehensive deal until early July, 15:13 because of their elections. Japan also has elections. 15:16 And to what extent are domestic factors 15:20 complicating your efforts? Canada just had an election. 15:24 Are you seeing that you might have to think 15:26 about delaying the 90 days? 15:28 Mr. Bessent: Well, I would actually take the opposite tack, 15:32 that I think from our talks that these governments 15:35 actually want to have the framework of a trade deal done 15:39 before they go into elections, 15:40 to show that they have successfully negotiated 15:44 with the United States. 15:45 So we are finding that they are actually much more keen 15:48 to come to the table, get this done, 15:50 and then go home and campaign on it. 15:53 Mrs. Leavitt: Sean? 15:54 The Press: I’m sorry, did you have a comment 15:56 on whether something could happen this week or next week? 15:59 Mr. Bessent: For? 16:00 The Press: For a deal? You said yesterday- 16:03 Mr. Bessent: Again, I think that we are very close on India. 16:07 And India, just a little insight. 16:10 Baseball. India, in a funny way, 16:13 is easier to negotiate with than many other countries, 16:16 because they have very high tariffs and lots of tariffs. 16:19 So it’s much easier to confront the direct tariffs 16:23 when, as we go through these unfair trade deals 16:27 that have been put in over decades, 16:29 that the non-tariff trade barriers 16:32 can be much more insidious and also harder to detect. 16:36 So a country like India, 16:37 which has the posted and ready tariffs, 16:42 it’s much easier to negotiate with them. 16:44 So I think the Indian negotiations are moving well. 16:47 Mrs. Leavitt: Sean, go ahead. 16:48 The Press: Hi, Mr. Secretary. 16:50 So it was reported this morning that Amazon will soon display 16:54 a little number next to the price of each product 16:56 that shows how much the Trump tariffs 16:59 are adding to the cost of each product. 17:02 So isn’t that a perfect, crystal clear demonstration 17:05 that it’s the American consumer and not China, 17:08 who is going to have to pay for these policies? 17:11 Mrs. Leavitt: I will take this, since I just got off the phone 17:14 with the president about Amazon’s announcement. 17:16 This is a hostile and political act by Amazon. 17:21 Why didn’t Amazon do this 17:22 when the Biden administration hiked inflation 17:25 to the highest level in 40 years? 17:27 And I would also add that it’s not a surprise, 17:30 because as Reuters recently wrote, 17:33 Amazon has partnered with a Chinese propaganda arm. 17:37 So this is another reason why Americans should buy American. 17:40 It’s another reason why we are on-shoring 17:43 critical supply chains here at home, 17:44 to shore up our own critical supply chain 17:47 and boost our own manufacturing [inaudible]. 17:49 The Press: Is Jeff Bezos still a Trump supporter? 17:51 Mrs. Leavitt: Look, I will not speak 17:53 to the President’s relationships with Jeff Bezos, 17:56 but I will tell you that this is 17:58 certainly a hostile and political action 18:00 by Amazon and Secretary, if you have anything to add. 18:02 Mr. Bessent: Yeah, I would also add that bringing down 18:06 the terrible Biden inflation has been a priority 18:09 for the first 100 days of the Trump administration. 18:13 And President Trump has done a great job of leading 18:15 that since January 20th. 18:18 Interest rates, mortgage rates are down, 18:21 gasoline and energy prices are down. 18:24 We’re expecting the further decreases, and as Karoline said, 18:29 the big tax on consumers that goes unnoticed 18:32 is deregulation or regulation, 18:35 and we are deregulating and bringing that down. 18:38 So from a household income point of view, 18:41 we would expect real purchasing increases 18:44 that we’ve seen them over the first 100 days 18:46 and we would expect that to accelerate. 18:49 We are doing peace deals, trade deals, tax deals, 18:54 and deregulating. 18:55 And the deregulation is a longer lead time, 19:00 but I think by the third and fourth quarters 19:02 that’s really going to kick in. 19:04 The Press: Thank you, Karoline. 19:06 A question for you and Secretary Bessent. 19:09 We talk a lot about volatility and uncertainty 19:11 in the marketplace and the president 19:13 has stated all along 19:14 that he’s more concerned about mainstream America, 19:16 the American worker. 19:18 You just talked about deregulation 19:20 and this entire fair trade and reciprocals. 19:24 What is your message to the American people 19:27 in terms of letting them get through this disturbance 19:31 and the outcome being greater 19:33 and a greater good for the American worker, 19:35 the American people, the American families? 19:37 Mrs. Leavitt: I would say trust in President Trump. 19:41 There is a reason he was reelected to this office. 19:43 It’s because of the historic success 19:45 of his economic formula in the first term. 19:47 And as I laid out at the beginning of the briefing, 19:49 and the secretary has talked about, 19:50 and the president talks about every day, 19:53 there’s a proven formula that works. 19:55 Massive deregulation, energy independence and tax cuts, 19:59 which are coming and the secretary 20:01 is working very hard on that 20:02 with our counterparts on Capitol Hill. 20:04 If you want to talk about that, 20:06 that’s a huge deal to put more money 20:09 back into the pockets of hardworking Americans. 20:11 As for the fair trade deals, 20:13 the president is trying to negotiate, 20:14 he’s not just righting the wrong of the mess 20:16 that he inherited from the past 20:18 four years of the Biden administration, 20:19 this is a mess that has been created for the past 20:21 four decades that has sold out the middle class, 20:24 that has moved jobs overseas. 20:26 You think about our Heartland, Middle America, 20:28 what towns used to look like, what they look like today. 20:30 President Trump wants to restore the Golden Age 20:33 and it’s a process to do that and that process is underway. 20:36 But he’s put together a fantastic trade team, 20:38 Secretary Bessent, Secretary Lutnick, Jamieson Greer, 20:40 all working incredibly hard on this effort 24/7, 20:44 but tax cuts are coming and that’s key. 20:46 And Mr. Secretary, why don’t you talk a little bit about that? 20:48 Mr. Bessent: Yep. 20:49 So it’s really a three-legged stool in the economic policy. 20:54 It’s trade, its tax, and its deregulation. 20:57 So we are in the midst of addressing, as Karoline said, 21:01 these long-term trade imbalances. 21:04 The tax bill is going much better than I would’ve thought 21:09 when I took office on January 28th. 21:14 And that’s through President Trump’s leadership 21:16 that Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune are United. 21:21 Speaker Johnson, we had a very good meeting yesterday 21:24 with somebody called the big six. 21:27 NEC director, Kevin Hassett, myself, 21:30 Speaker Johnson, Leader Thune, 21:32 Committee Chairman Jason Smith and Senator Crapo. 21:36 And the tax bill is moving forward. 21:39 It is going to give permanence 21:41 to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act, 21:44 which, back to the question on certainty, 21:47 it will give American business certainty, 21:49 it will give American people certainty. 21:51 And then President Trump is also adding the things 21:55 for working Americans that I talked about earlier. 21:59 No tax on tips, no tax on overtime, 22:01 no tax on social security, making auto payments deductible. 22:05 So that will substantially address 22:08 the affordability crisis. 22:10 And the other thing that I would note and back to data 22:14 is that the Vanguard, 22:17 one of the largest money management firms in America 22:20 said that over the past 100 days, 22:23 97% of Americans haven’t done a trade. 22:26 And in fact, individual investors have held tight 22:30 while institutional investors have panicked. 22:33 So individual investors trust President Trump. 22:42 Mrs. Leavitt: Megan, in the back. 22:44 The Press: Thank you both. 22:45 Can you detail for us exactly what we should expect 22:47 as far as relief on the auto tariffs front 22:49 and then further, Mr. Secretary, 22:51 should we expect other industries to also get relief 22:53 the way we’ve now seen for auto and tech as well? 22:57 Mr. Bessent: I’m not going to go into the details 22:59 of the auto tariff relief, 23:03 but I can tell you that it will go 23:04 substantially toward reshoring American auto manufacturing. 23:09 And again, the goal here is to bring back 23:14 the high quality industrial jobs to the U.S. President Trump 23:19 is interested in the jobs of the future, 23:22 not the jobs of the past. 23:24 We don’t need to necessarily have a booming textile industry, 23:28 like where I grew up again, 23:30 but we do want to have precision manufacturing 23:33 and bring that back. 23:34 And another very important function of this 23:38 that does not get talked about enough is national security. 23:42 President Trump, his overriding, the concern and belief 23:49 is that economic security is national security. 23:52 National security is economic security. 23:55 And we saw during Covid that our supply chains got cut off 23:59 and we need to bring back a lot of those supply chains, 24:03 whether it’s in semiconductors, medicines, via steel, 24:07 and we have to onshore those. 24:10 So it’s a combination of making trade free and fair 24:14 and remedying this gaping national security hole 24:17 that he was left with. 24:19 Mrs. Leavitt: If I could, I would just add, Megan, 24:21 the president will sign the executive order 24:23 on auto tariffs later today 24:24 and we will release it as we always do. 24:25 Go ahead. 24:27 The Press: Secretary, any updates on the negotiation 24:29 with the European Union, 24:30 and is it hard to negotiate with the European Union? 24:33 Mr. Bessent: Pardon? 24:35 The Press: Do you have any updates on the negotiation 24:37 with the European Union? 24:39 Mr. Bessent: I’m more involved in the Asian negotiations. 24:42 My observation would be, goes all the way back 24:45 to Henry Kissinger’s statement, 24:46 when I call Europe, who do I call? 24:48 So we’re negotiating with a lot of different interests. 24:53 Some of the European countries have put on 24:55 an unfair digital service tax on our big internet provider. 24:59 France and Italy, other countries, 25:01 Germany and Poland, don’t have that. 25:04 So we want to see that unfair tax 25:08 of one of America’s great industries removed. 25:11 So it’s going to be a give and take. 25:14 So they have some internal matters to decide 25:17 before they can engage in an external negotiation. 25:19 Mrs. Leavitt: Edward. 25:20 The Press: Thanks, Karoline. Mr. Secretary, so contacts 25:22 I have in the business community say 25:24 that they’re basically frozen for long-term investment 25:27 because of the uncertainty around tariffs. 25:29 How long do you think President Trump has to make a deal 25:32 before there’s damage to the economy? 25:34 Mr. Bessent: Look, I think that what we’re seeing 25:36 is that business leaders, they’ve gone into a pause 25:40 and I think we’re going to give them great certainty 25:43 on this tax bill. 25:44 And I think over the next couple of weeks, 25:48 as I said, we have 18 important trading relationships. 25:52 We’ll put China to the side, 17. They are in motion. 25:56 And then as I said yesterday, 25:58 I think there’s a very good chance 25:59 we’re going to get this tax bill done 26:01 and the tax bill is going to be very powerful 26:04 for domestic U.S. Investment. 26:06 So what we are going to do, one of the most powerful parts 26:10 of President Trump’s 2017 tax bill 26:13 was full expensing of equipment. We are going to make that, 26:17 as President Trump said in his speech to Congress, 26:20 that will be retroactive to January 20th. 26:24 The other thing that we are looking to add 26:26 is full expensing for factories. So bring your factory back. 26:31 You can fully expense the equipment and the building. 26:35 We will couple that with deregulation, 26:38 cheap energy and regulatory certainty, 26:41 and that will continue to make the U.S. 26:43 the greatest destination 26:45 for domestic and foreign investments. 26:46 Mrs. Leavitt: And just a part- 26:47 The Press: If I can follow, just the president said 26:49 that world leaders would like to meet with him 26:51 in Vatican City about trade. Other than President Zelensky, 26:56 who did the president meet with about trade 26:59 and when could we get some of those deals? 27:01 Mrs. Leavitt: The president met with President Zelensky, 27:03 as you know, which we talked about. 27:05 And the president continues to be engaged 27:07 with his fellow leaders around the world. 27:11 In the European Union, 27:12 you’ve seen many of them visit the White House. 27:14 I want to harp on, in closing, 27:16 the point the secretary just made. 27:17 On the campaign trail, 27:19 the president promised the American public 27:21 that he was going to make America 27:22 the best country in the world to do business. 27:24 Again, the lowest taxes, lowest regulation, 27:27 lowest energy costs of anywhere in the world. 27:29 And if you do business in the United States, 27:31 you won’t pay a tariff, you won’t pay a price. 27:33 That’s not just good for companies around the world, 27:35 but it’s good for the American worker. 27:37 That’s what this team is focused so hard 27:38 on every day we have work to do. 27:40 The Golden Age of America is underway, 27:43 but as I pointed out in the beginning, 27:45 there’s a lot of reason for the American consumer, 27:48 the American CEO, the American small business owner 27:50 to be confident and optimistic 27:52 about this president and where we’re headed. 27:54 So you will hear more from the president himself 27:56 later this evening. 27:58 He is traveling to Michigan, as you all know. 28:00 He’ll make a stop at the Air Force base 28:02 with Governor Whitmer 28:03 and then we will head to a rally tonight 28:06 where you’ll hear more from him directly. 28:07 So we’ll see you in Michigan. Thank you, guys. 28:10 The Press: Thank you.

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