By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Council of Economic Advisers Chair Stephen Miran told Fox Business on Wednesday that there will be short-term bumps caused by tariffs announced by Washington, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged other countries not to retaliate.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would impose a 10% baseline tariff on all imports to the U.S. and higher duties on dozens of other countries, including some of the United States’ biggest trading partners, deepening a trade war that has rattled global markets and bewildered U.S. allies.
Some trading partners are expected to respond with countermeasures of their own that could lead to dramatically higher prices for products in the U.S. and in other parts of the world.
KEY QUOTES
Miran was asked how concerned he was about short-term price increases.
“Are there going to be short-term bumps as a result? Absolutely,” Miran told Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow” program.
“But what the president is focused on is a long-term transformation and improvement in the durability, sustainability and fairness of the American economy with respect to the rest of the world,” Miran added.
Bessent urged other countries to not retaliate against U.S. measures. “Let’s see where this goes, because if you retaliate, that’s how we get escalation,” he told CNN in an interview on Wednesday night.
“Doing anything rash would be unwise,” he said.
Bessent was asked how he expected stock markets to react to the tariffs to which he replied: “I don’t know.”
CONTEXT
Outside economists have warned that tariffs could slow the global economy, raise the risk of recession, and increase living costs for the average U.S. family by thousands of dollars.
Trump says they were a response to duties and other non-tariff barriers put on U.S. goods, arguing that the new levies will boost manufacturing jobs at home.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler, Michael Perry and Jamie Freed)
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