Mnuchin says trade war with China likely won't 'have a meaningful impact on our economy'

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin conceded a trade war with China is possible in an appearance on CBS Sunday, but he downplayed its probable effects for the American economy.

"Our expectation is that we don't think there will be a trade war," Mnuchin said. "Our objective is to continue to have discussions with China. We want to have free and fair reciprocal trade." But "whatever happens in trade," he continued, "I don't expect it to have a meaningful impact on our economy."

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Sunday morning, however, he was more optimistic:

Read Mnuchin's full comments on the Trump administration's trade agenda here.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.