White House economist Kevin Hassett was forced to defend President Trump’s proposed tariffs to congressional Republicans during a Wednesday appearance on Capitol Hill, an awkward position for a longtime free-trader.
Hassett, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, justified the administration’s move toward imposing new tariffs on steel and aluminum as a matter of national security, and as a starting point in tough negotiations for lower trade barriers.
“I think that taking strong action is a good way to start negotiations and to try to move other countries towards a more free-trade equilibrium,” Hassett said at a Joint Economic Committee hearing.
Trump’s proposed tariffs, which White House officials have said will be set out in detail this week, have drawn opposition from congressional Republicans. On Thursday, it was up to Hassett to publicly defend the president’s policies under questioning from lawmakers like Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., and Darin LaHood, R-Ill., among others.
It was an uneasy position for Hassett, who in his previous roles as a think tank scholar and Republican adviser advocated lower trade barriers. But he deftly sidestepped uncomfortable questions.
Hassett allowed that the tariffs could hurt steel- and aluminum-consuming industries. But “it would be easy to envision national security benefits that would exceed those costs,” he said.
And he framed the administration’s moves to impose tariffs and renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement as parts of a larger effort to demand that other countries lower their trade barriers.
At one point he said that Trump is “pursuing symmetry and reciprocity” in trade, and at another he said that Trump is “very serious about being a tough negotiator.”
