Mnuchin Says U.S. 2020 Growth to Be Less Than 3% Due to Boeing
February 06 2020 - 9:05AM
Dow Jones News
By Kate Davidson
WASHINGTON -- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday
that U.S. officials have reduced their expectations for economic
growth in 2020 because of disruptions caused by the grounding of
Boeing Co.'s 737 MAX.
In an interview with Fox Business Network, Mr. Mnuchin said
gross domestic product growth may be lower than 3% this year.
"Boeing has had a big impact on our exports, being our largest
exporter, " Mr. Mnuchin said. "I think that could be 50 basis
points if not more."
A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point. Boeing
halted production of its troubled 737 Max jet last month after it
was grounded by regulators following two fatal crashes.
Mr. Mnuchin also said officials are closely monitoring the
fast-spreading coronavirus, but said they hadn't yet seen major
effect on supply chains.
"There's no question that the virus will have some impact on
global growth and some impact on the U.S.," he said but added it is
too early to tell how significant the effects will be.
Mr. Mnuchin also said the announcement by China early Thursday
that it would lift some tariffs on U.S. goods was expected and
agreed to as part of the recently signed phase one trade deal.
Mr. Mnuchin said the president is willing to cut tariffs on
China as part of a phase two deal, but that U.S. negotiators left
tariffs on to incentivize China to continue moving toward the next
phase of talks.
Asked if the U.S. planned to impose more tariffs on European
goods, Mr. Mnuchin said President Trump was focused on reaching a
new trade agreement, but noted that officials had "already seen a
tremendous amount of investment by the European auto makers into
the U.S. and building factories here. So that's also part of the
agenda and that is working."
Write to Kate Davidson at kate.davidson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 06, 2020 09:50 ET (14:50 GMT)
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