US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin reminded the House Financial Services Committee that new tariffs on USD 300B in Chinese imports are probably just a month or so away. He said, “there won’t be any decision probably for another 30 to 45 days.” Meanwhile, there is no plan to travel to China to resume trade negotiations yet.
On Walmart’s claims that tariffs will push up retail prices, he said “that’s something I can assure you the president will be focused on before we make any decisions.” However, he also talked down the threat of higher prices for consumers. He said “my expectation is that a lot of this business will be moved from China to other places in the region so that there will not be a cost.”
