Press Briefing by NEC Director and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Larry Kudlow | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

Press Briefing by NEC Director and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Larry Kudlow and NSC Senior Director for Asian Affairs Matthew Pottinger on the Official Working Visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan

    MR. KUDLOW: I'll just say to start, before we take some questions, this is a very important meeting. A lot of really key issues are on the line. You obviously know about the foreign policy side regarding North Korea, which is a major, major issue for Japan and for the United States.

    On the economic and trade side, there will also be very important issues. Japan is a great friend and ally. We have certain disagreements with respect to some of the trading issues. We'll iron those out, hopefully.

    Mr. Abe is a friend of President Trump's, and I think the general setting is going to be very positive. There are some bilateral issues. In fact, the United States would probably like to see a free trade agreement come out at some point with Japan.

    And the rest of it is - I believe stocks are up 260 points. Yesterday was Tax Day. No, today is Tax Day. Lower taxes. Strong economic growth. Nobody believes that, except me. I'm hanging in there. We're in the early stages of an economic boom here in the United States. And actually, Japan's economy has improved quite a bit.

    So instead of babble on, let me just stand up and take some questions. We have a team of experts that will try to help you out.

    Eamon.

    Q Thanks, Larry. Can you tell us if you or any of the other U.S. trade officials or U.S. economic officials have had any discussions at all with the Japanese side about a revived TPP? The President suggested that might be something you would do, and he ordered you to do that last week. Has that happened?

    MR. KUDLOW: Yes, there are discussions and considerations. There's nothing at all concrete. It's too early to say. The President has asked me to give it another look, if you will. I think Japan is going to move towards a vote in their parliament on the matter. It's a very important issue there.

    I can't say what we'll do. It's way too early.

    Q What was the reception on the Japanese side when you broached that with them? Are they willing to engage with the United States on allowing the U.S. back into TPP?

    MR. KUDLOW: Yes. Yes. But that's all it is, if you will - talk.

    Yes, Major.

    Q When you say you're going to look into TPP, what are you looking for?

    MR. KUDLOW: Look, it's got to be - I'm just going to be general on this; I don't want to get into details. It has to be in U.S. interest for us to take another look and actually go into it.

    The President believes it is not presently in U.S. interest to sign it. And that's not a new point; he's made that before.

    Q But you'd be looking into negotiating it differently, right? This would not be looking into what had been generally agreed to. You'd be looking at a whole new set of negotiations and whether or not that's worth the effort. Is that fair?

    MR. KUDLOW: In policy content terms, it's never been to our liking. So if we choose to go down that path - and that decision has not been made, I want to just be very clear. If we choose to go down that path, however, to "improve it," we will have to be convinced that it's worth our while. And I don't think the President is yet convinced of that, to be honest. I don't think he is.

    John.

    Q Sir, what can the President offer Abe to sort of sweeten the pot to enter into a new bilateral trading agreement? Because Abe clearly comes down to the side of TPP as opposed to bilateral. And I think the idea of bilateral trade throws chills down his spine.

    MR. KUDLOW: I'm going to wait for the talks to progress. It's a good question. I don't want to get ahead of it. I want to wait for the talks to progress. There are a lot of issues on the table, but I don't want to get ahead of itself. To quote a hackneyed thing, I don't want to get ahead of my skis. We'll see. We'll see. Really, we'll see.

    Yes.

    Q This might be a question better to you, Matt. But about North Korea, what is the President's message about the upcoming meeting with Kim Jong-un? Can you give us any kind of - what's the reassurance to the Japanese? Obviously, they've got some concerns about that. Do you have any update at all as to where that will be, when it will be? Do we still think it's going to be in May? That's what the announcement was. We're rapidly approaching May.

    MR. POTTINGER: Sure. So with regards to timing, I think the President's public comments still stand. He said that it's going to - we're aiming for a summit in May or early June. Nothing has changed that. In terms of venue, we've nothing to announce right now about that, or really in terms of the details, other than what the President has said, which is this is - he has accepted an invitation to meet with the leader of North Korea to achieve the permanent denuclearization of North Korea.

    So that is going to be one of the key topics that President Trump is going to be talking about with Prime Minister Abe. It has been, since President Trump came into office, one of the key topics. They've conferred extremely closely on this.

    As I mentioned the other day, President Trump has met with Prime Minister Abe more than he's met with any other foreign leader. And Prime Minister Abe and the President are going to want to exchange views in advance of a summit with the North Korean leader so that we make sure that Japanese interests and American interests are both fully accounted for. Japanese security interests are American security interests. That's why we are allies. That's what it means to have an alliance.

    Q But what are the backchannel negotiations that are going on, on this?

    MR. POTTINGER: Well, there's nothing in terms of channels that I'm at liberty to talk about today. There will be more to share about that in the weeks ahead.

    Hallie and then David.

    Q Thanks, Matt. One for you, and then, Larry, a follow-up to you, as well. There's some reporting out today that North Korea and South Korea may be announcing plans to officially end military conflict. Can you talk through what you and the administration know about that and how that plays into the talks?

    MR. POTTINGER: Yeah. Someone just alerted me to the story. I haven't read it yet. But I would just say that the U.S. and South Korea are as much aligned and coordinated on their summit as we are on a U.S. summit.

    So we had the National Security Advisor of South Korea here just last week to have his first meeting with Ambassador John Bolton. Very substantive meeting. Very clear exchange of views on planning for both of these summits.

    But at this point, there's no advantage to sharing too much publicly yet.

    Q And then, Larry, just as a follow to you on the TPP discussion, and then one other on taxes, actually. When you said that the President has expressed to you that he wants to give another look at reentering TPP, can you explain what prompted that, what triggered the President? Was there an activity? Was there something that you said to him that made him change his mind?

    And then, just since you brought up Tax Day, too, apparently the IRS is crashing; the online system is down. Are you in touch with your Treasury counterparts on that? And what is the White House doing?

    MR. KUDLOW: The IRS is crashing? (Laughter.)

    Q I don't know if you heard about it, but I didn't know if you were in touch with the guys, with Secretary Mnuchin.

    MR. KUDLOW: Sounds horrible. Sounds really bad. (Laughter.)

    Q And on TPP, sir, can you explain -

    MR. KUDLOW: I hope it gets fixed.

    Q - what led to the President's change of heart?

    MR. KUDLOW: Look, the TPP thing - I don't want to say you're barking up the wrong tree; you're not. I'm just saying, at the moment, we are in the pre-preliminary stages of any discussion at all. And we'll see how that goes.

    It will come up in this summit, no question about it. But for the American side, at the moment, it's more of a thought than a policy, that's for sure.

    Look, the President said this in Davos - he'd be willing. Remember the line, "America first does not mean America alone"? That's a very important line, and that's about as far as I want to go on it.

    Yes.

    Q Do you see TPP, potentially, as a bulwark - a potential bulwark against China? And is that part of the appeal of reentering TPP?

    MR. KUDLOW: I think that our disagreements with China stand alone. We don't need TPP; we don't need anything. There's trade disputes going on here that stand on their own regarding us and China. We don't need TPP to do any of that stuff. It might work. It might hypothetically work, but that's not where we are.

    The President has an ongoing discussion with some policy items on the agenda, as you know. That includes tariffs and it includes negotiation. And we will see how that does. But our discussions with - our trade disputes with China stand alone from TPP.

    Go ahead, John.

    Q Question for Matt. You said that Japan's security is in the interest of U.S. security. But clearly, Shinzo Abe is concerned about what talks with Kim Jong-un may mean for the security umbrella that the United States has in East Asia. What assurances can the President give Shinzo Abe today that his concerns will be taken into account in any meeting with Kim Jong-un?

    MR. POTTINGER: Yeah. So since President Trump and Prime Minster Abe first met after the election, before the President was even inaugurated and in all of their interactions since - frequently on the phone, frequently in person - the commitment to the alliance by both sides has come through loud and clear in all those interactions.

    So I think that there will be plenty of time for them to talk in some detail about objectives for a potential summit, for Japan to share its perspective. The President has a great degree of respect for Prime Minister Abe's views on security in the region and on the Peninsula, and so they'll cover a lot of ground, I think.

    I know I tapped you, David, but -

    Q Two quick ones. One, Matt, if you could talk a little bit about - there's been some reporting in the South Korean media and elsewhere that negotiations are under way for the three Americans who are still held in North Korea to be released. Do you expect that to happen before a summit or as related to a summit? Is that a condition the U.S. expects?

    And then, second of all, if you could just - because I know he's on the trip, but he's not here today - if you could talk a little bit about John Bolton's - we know his very public views about North Korea. How has he approached the planning since he's been here for about a week now? Can you talk about maybe what directions he's offered, what vision he's offered since planning was already under way?

    MR. KUDLOW: We'll let John speak for himself.

    Q But can you talk about the other thing about the American detainees?

    MR. POTTINGER: Yeah. I mean, in terms of - the fact that there are three Americans who are being held unlawfully in North Korea is something that is on the minds of all Americans serving in this administration right now. I'm not going to talk about how that factors in, but you can be assured that it factors very much into future interactions between our government and the North Korean government.

    Q Is it a precondition?

    MR. POTTINGER: Nothing to add beyond that.

    MR. KUDLOW: I just want to make clear - there's a lot of TPP questions - the United States trade discussion or trade dispute with China, which is very significant, is really in no way related to the TPP. The President regards them as two different issues, so that whatever happens or not with TPP, our discussions - our very serious discussions with China over forced technology transfers and theft of intellectual property and so forth and so on, that's ongoing. That's not linked to TPP. I just want to make that as clear as I can.

    Yes.

    Q Larry, thanks. I want to ask you about the value of a number of free trade agreements in the region. It seems that the administration's policy has been there's nothing wrong with approaching each one of the partners over there and continuing to operate in that light. Is that the position as it relates to Japan specifically? And will you use that as a template for other nations in the region?

    MR. KUDLOW: You know, the President said a number of times he greatly prefers bilaterals to multilaterals. That's his comfort zone, his preference.

    So in terms of your question, the answer is, yeah. I mean, you've got a lot of free trade agreements, and we're taking a look at everything. Right now, the focus is on Japan. That's the key point. I don't want to speak to the other countries.

    Q Do you agree with that posture, though? Or -

    MR. KUDLOW: Pardon?

    Q Do you agree with that strategy? Or are you going to try to influence the President to think more broadly?

    MR. KUDLOW: I have a lot of discussions with the President. They're all private discussions.