Hassett on Trump trade war interest rates threat: ‘I don’t expect the trade’s going to go to zero’

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, on Sunday played down President Trump’s threat to begin a trade war if the Federal Reserve doesn’t drop interest rates.

“I don’t expect the trade’s going to go to zero, but I do think that the president has a very strong opinion that interest rates could be a lot lower. And we’ll just have to wait and see what the Fed decides,” Hassett told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.”

Earlier this month , Trump pressed the Fed to lower interest rates following an August jobs report that was stronger than predicted . He threatened to stop trade with several countries if the central bank didn’t drop the rates.

“Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago!” the president wrote in a prior post on Truth Social. “A STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE – IT’S A BETTER CREDIT.”

“Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE!” he added. “LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT.”

American employers added 162,000 jobs in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, far ahead of the 53,000 predicted by economists.

Despite the positive jobs numbers, Trump and Republicans still face broader economic concerns surrounding issues like the Iran war, which has raised oil and gas prices, and recent trade tensions with Canada.