Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council and the current favorite to take over as Federal Reserve chairman, argued on Thursday President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs are playing a meaningful role in tackling America’s $38 trillion national debt. In conversation with billionaire David Rubenstein, the Carlyle cofounder, Hassett argued the first step to tackling the debt was to reduce it relative to target: “And we clearly are doing that with the big reductions in the deficit right now.”

Hassett continued, saying he’s not only bullish about growth in the economy, but “the fact that we have tariff revenue and we’ve got a lot more spending restraint than was here in the past.” He noted tariffs are an important part of Trump’s economic policy and “a lot of the revenue coming

See Full Page