White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow Monday said trade deals with China, Canada, and Mexico will strengthen the economy, adding that exports will double with China under the first phase of President Donald Trump's new agreement.
"These deals are both pro-growth and yeah, they do remove some uncertainty," Kudlow told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "They also increase incentives to invest...I think it's important that people understand just how important these economic growth measures are going to be."
Trump is under fire in many different areas, Kudlow added, but the trade deals with USMCA and China show that "tough bargaining and tough negotiating" pay off and help defend the American economy.
"We can grow it, and we can help defend it," said Kudlow. "These are really historical trade deals. Hats off to Bob Lighthizer, my great colleague, hats off to Steve Mnuchin, and to our whole trade team helping President Trump."
He also defended the USMCA from critics such as Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who argued this weekend that the deal will take the United States in the "wrong direction" away from NAFTA when it comes to trade with Mexico.
"We are protecting domestic content," said Kudlow. "That's why we've raised the threshold to 75% on automobiles and other manufacturers."
He added that NAFTA resulted in the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs, so it 'had to be updated."
Kudlow also said he's an optimist on market growth in 2020.
"Just this year alone, besides the pro-growth elements of trade and besides the fact we'll have more certainty about trade and trade victories that will help the United States, we finally got a little help," said Kudlow. "The Federal Reserve took (its) foot off the brake and is now more accommodating."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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