Fmr. Commerce Sec. Daley On Trump's Tough Trade Talk
Former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley is concerned over President-elect Donald Trump’s tough trade talk.
“There’s some serious issues there taking not just the rhetoric of the campaign but what I think a large part of President-elect Trump’s base wants visa vi globalization and a fear of globalization. Does the President-elect double-down on sort of what he said, or does he begin to walk away and take a more traditional view that Paul Ryan and other Republicans in Congress have around trade and trade issues?” he told the FOX Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo.
When it comes to appointing a Commerce Secretary, in Daley’s opinion, it’s important to hire someone “familiar with business.”
“We are only 5% of the world’s population and so it is imperative that we have good relationships to sell our goods around the world. At the same time we have to defend those jobs and those companies in the U.S. from unfair trade practices that other countries absolutely do,” he said.
On day one, Trump promised to declare China a currency manipulator. While this would be a “major step,” Daly said not sticking to his word will have consequences.
“If he doesn’t do it then his base I assume will say… wait a minute, is this a message that you’re rolling back to be the usual sort of Republican they would have turned away from had he been or will he stay with that?”
He added: “People are cynical about politicians and say they don’t really mean what they say… One of the reasons I think Donald Trump was elected was because people believed that he believed what he said.”