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Dozens of reporters also at the White House today for an awfully important meeting. It may not generate a lot of news, but it's a big deal in this country when we talk about continuity of government, the peaceful transfer of power. Yes, the transition has officially begun, not just naming names, but Donald Trump in the Oval office with Joe Biden. And that's why we bring in my colleague Kaylee Lines, who's on the North lawn and has been
out there for the duration with some interesting activity. Kaylee, I don't know if we're going to get some comments from Donald Trump at the state out location in the driveway or what you can tell us, but.
Speak to the importance of this meeting.
Well, the optics, of course, are incredibly important here, Joe. Perhaps the most important part of the meeting itself is the fact that the meeting is happening at all. Is we didn't get this in twenty twenty, Donald Trump did not extend this kind of offer to Joe Biden after he beat him in the last cycle, still, of course,
was contesting the results at that time. But Joe Biden has welcomed Donald Trump here to the White House, and he congratulated him on his victory, said he will be supporting him throughout this transfer of power, that they intend to accommodate anything he needs. While Donald Trump, for his part, said that while politics is not always a nice world, that it is a nice world today, thanking Joe Biden
for welcoming him to the White House. I would point out I am one of potentially hundreds of people that are here gathered Joe waiting to see if the President elect emerges from this meeting and speaks to the press. Is they did not take questions from the press when they first met in that public portion of the meeting. Once the spray left, we aren't really sure what will
happen behind closed doors. We do know it is not just Trump and Biden speaking to each other, but they're a respective chief of staff or chief of staff designate in the case of Susie Wiles and Jeff Zionce are also there with them in that meeting, and it right now is only up for a question what they are discussing. But we'll see if Donald Trump himself is willing to shed a little light on that later on.
Yeah, I'll be deeply curious. We'll have eyes on the stick, says they say. Kaylee, talk to us.
About Elon Musk. We saw him over at the hotel.
He andally came to Washington today with Donald Trump, and there was some talk that he actually might go to the White House. Apparently that did not happen, but he is going to be now officially as of last night, working with this administration.
Indeed co heading the Department of Government Efficiency, alongside for bak Ramaswami, who of course ran against Trump during the primary campaign. DOGE, as it will be called, will focus on or I guess we might call it an Elon Musk might call it as well. We'll be focusing on trying essentially to trim the fat, cut down on spending, deregulate as much as possible, or really make recommendations as
for how to do so. Because, of course, Joe, you and I both know well that while they can suggest all they want in terms of where spending should be cut. The actual power of the purse lies with Congress. It is Congress that is going to have to actually allocate the funds, appropriate them to the different government agencies. So there's only so much Elon Musk is really going to
be able to wield in terms of influence. But his very presence here in Washington today does show just how close the richest man in the world has become to one of the most powerful men in the world, Donald Trump, who's about to become the forty seventh President of the United States.
All Right, Bloomberg's Kaylee lines at the White House. Will see you back here in the newsroom, Kayley a little bit later on, as we add the voice of Barbara Perry.
This is a significant.
Moment, regardless of who you prefer, Trump or Biden, an important moment for our democracy and just for the history of the presidency. To see these two men together after such a vicious campaign, one that of course ended with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket, not Joe Biden.
She's professor in Presidential Studies at the Unionity of Virginia's Miller Center, and we try to reach Barbara in times of historical significance, Professor, it's great to have you back your thoughts as you saw these two men sitting down today inside the White House.
Great to be with you, Joe. Yes, this is a historic moment for a lot of reasons. This is a fairly modern event whereby a sitting president welcomes the president's elect to the White House. And we have to remember that is in part because travel was not always easy
in our pastime. So the one that I remember, if not starting this tradition, but certainly carrying on past it was Eisenhower meeting with Kennedy, and there was not a lot of love lost between them, but certainly Kennedy, as a junior officer in World War Two, respected the five star general and his commander in chief, Dwight Eisenhower. So
they had a meeting at the White House. And again this has continued accepted was said that was not a courtesy that was afforded by Donald Trump to Joe Biden four years ago because Donald Trump didn't believe, or at least said he didn't believe that Joe Biden had won the election. So it's historic because it's symbolic of the
passing of the torch. But there's also content in the sense that that symbolism has content, and it's good for the American people to see a smooth transition, and it's good for the world to see that as well.
Well.
It is good to see.
I wonder how Donald Trump will be accepted, if not ever in the club of former presidents seeing him up there today.
Is there ever going to be an.
Event where it's Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden standing on a stage doing something or is he singular.
In that way?
He's singular and unprecedented in a host of ways that we've been covering now since certainly twenty fifteen. As it relates to the presidential politics, one opportunity will be the inauguration itself. Again, he did not afford the long standing courtesy of the outgoing president being president at even though he had lost the incoming president's inauguration, So that will be a test that I'm sure Joe Biden will pass that as the statesman that he's been for fifty years
in politics. But I think the next opportunity when we will see something like that potentially would be the opening of the it's not being called Presidential Library, the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which should come up in the
next year or two. And that is typically when all the former presidents come for that opening of a former president's library or center, and usually all the first Ladies come as well, and they are all pictured as a group, first the President's then the First Ladies on stage, and so we will see maybe this is a different Donald Trump presidency. It's hard to imagine that his personality will change over this, but we're seeing a different kind of
transition with his appointments. So maybe he will be a different style president from his first term. Remains to be seen.
Well, we're going to find out together here. Noteworthy, the Milennia Trump was not with him on the visit today. She is not at the White House, of course, having lived there. I do want to ask you, though, about what Joe Biden has in front of him as the lame duck president. We just ran a headline, Barbara that he's going to be meeting with President she on Saturday on the sidelines of the APEX summit in Peru. What
is the point of these meetings? If Donald Trump is already meeting with world leaders to set up the next administration, what.
Will come from this, Yes, and we should say that the first appointees or nominees for the Donald Trump second administration are almost all very hawkish on China, so unlike the Obama administration in which Joe Biden served as Vice president for eight years, in which there was an attempt to as they say, the Asia and Pivot obviously to stay strong against China and tried to push through the free trade pack that would keep a strong market against
China in the Pacific and on the Pacific coastlines that obviously went away with the anti free trade movement of
the first foul Trump administration. So I think that what Joe Biden will be doing for China and our relations with China and President she as well as around the world, is to say that there will be a peaceful transition of power and that the United States remains powerful in both military and market terms, and that no one should try anything conflictual in this period of a lane up Joe Biden presidency.
You mentioned some of the appointments we've heard about. The others are being reported on as part of the transition. Here, Barbara Perry, the one that's blowing a lot of minds today is Pete Hegseth, who helps the host of Box and Friends on the weekends. He's a combat veteran, not on any short list, has already publicly pledged to fire the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, And I can go down the list with a lot of these.
Here.
We can talk about Elon Musk in this new office aimed at cutting spending the Department of Government efficiency. We can talk about the idea of Mike Huckabee going to Israel as our ambassador, an evangelical ambassador in Israel. When you add all of these up, you look at the mosaic of names that we're putting together here. Does this feel like a different administration than the first time around?
Or more of the same.
Again, I think going back to Donald Trump's style, we'll see if that changes at all or if there's more of the same. I think what's very different is people have been pointing out about these nominations and appointees who will probably those who have to be confirmed will no doubt stay all through the Senate, well unless there's something desperately wrong in their personal backgrounds. But I would say that what we're seeing is the number one criterion is
loyalty to both now future and former President Trump. And then I would also say loyalty to the approach to foreign affairs. Again, hawkishness against probably the Palestinians, hawkishness against the Chinese, perhaps cozying up with Putin as well as the North Korean dictator. So they are going to be changes, I think, along those lines in foreign policy, and then in domestic policy, it's going to be the twenty twenty five approach from the Heritage Foundation, that platform of Project
twenty twenty five. These people were, no doubt have to proclaim that they are loyal to that and to President Trump, and we'll see if that can carry itself out in reality.
Barbara Perry, Professor in Presidential Studies, University of Virginia's Miller's Center.
Thank you for the insights. As always.
Senator John Barrosso elected the next Senate Republican whip as expected, fun as leader.
This is Bloomberg.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then royd Oro with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our Flagship New York station. Just say Alexa, play Bloomberg eleven thirty.
Big day here in Washington, d C.
With a lot of headlines flying if you're just joining us. Donald Trump is at the White House right now. In fact, it appears he might be leaving as we speak, just wrapping his meeting with Joe Biden in the Oval Office. It does not appear he's going to come to the reporter stakeout in the driveway, but if he does.
We will let you know.
We brought you some very brief remarks from both Biden and Trump sitting in front of the fireplace in the Oval Office, pledging a smooth as Donald Trump said, so smooth transition and continuity of government, of course important to Joe Biden.
Today.
It's unclear what they discussed after reporters were ushered out.
Of the room.
Then we've got what's going on on Capitol Hill, where Donald Trump was earlier today spoke with House Republicans endorsed the Speaker, Mike Johnson, of course, set to maintain a very thin majority in the House in what appears to be a red sweep across the White House, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and We just got word earlier this hour, just as we took air shortly after noontime Eastern, that John Thune will be the next Senate Republican leader.
The vote twenty nine, twenty four. The headline says it all on the terminal Steve Dennis Dan Flatley, Senate Republicans reject Musk's pick elevate Thun de leader.
Yes.
Remember, Elon Musk was pushing for Rick Scott, Florida Senator, who did not make it past the first ballot. After all the uproar over the weekend by Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk and the MAGA community on social media, it was not enough to propel Rick Scott to win. Here, So John thun and Mike Johnson are your two congressional leaders. Right as Chuck Schumer steps back in the Senate having seen the chamber flip, our political panel is with us
to talk about an important day in politics. Lisa Camuso Miller, former r NC communications director, host of the Friday Reporter podcast Republican Strategist, is here, and Adam Hodge as well, former spokesperson for the National Security Counselor in the White House. He's managing director now Bully Pulpit International Democratic strategist. Great to see you both here, Lisa, I'll start with you, as not only a Republican but one who spent many
years on Capitol Hill. What do you think of the selection here and how easy or not will it be for John thun to work with Mike Johnson and Donald Trump.
Well, I mean living in different times these days, and so I think that everyone on the on the Hill is going to have to work in a way that is going to be a little bit different.
Right.
The good news I think for the Senate is that John Thune is someone who understands fundamentally how the Senate works, how the process works. But he's also someone that will work together with the House and with the White House in order to advance change and to get legislative action passed.
And so that to me is a good sign.
It's also he's a he's long been an ally and a friend to the to the House and someone that understands fundamentally how the process works.
So to me, this is good news.
It also to me signals that the party itself, no matter how much this is true also for the Republican National Committee, no matter how much outside factors try to play in the election of the various options and processes inside of Washington, the voters definitely decide who comes here, but the insiders, those inside the Senate definitely still decide who becomes the leader in the in the in the in the chamber.
I guess both chambers are showing their stripes here adam realizing they're red, but they approach things a little bit differently. And part of the concern going into this, those who supported Rick Scott were concerned that some senators were offended. They don't like to be bullied, they don't like to be told what to do, and that may have actually helped John Thune win.
What do you think about this results, Well, I think.
It's encouraging that there will be a little bit of sanity within the Senate Republican Conference. Look, John Thune, he's been in a leadership fixture for many, many years.
He knows how the body operates. I think he has a chance to.
Try to work also with Democrats in the minority, to try to get things done. We're going There's been a lot of things on his plate, from you know, getting the tax reform done, raising the debt ceiling, you know, funding the government, as you were talking about earlier this hour, so that there's some real big issues on his plate. And I think it's also a really smart reflection on the inability of outside forces in the online groups to
force the Senate to fall at that they're bidding. I'm reminded similarly, when Jim Jordan made his push to replace and then to become House Speaker, it was all kinds of noise from the MAGA movement and folks online to try to get him installed as a speaker, and that
failed as well. Members of Congress are going to do what they think is in the best interest of their conference, and I think that's why I think you ended up seeing the vote go pretty handily towards Thune on the first ballot, and why he ended up getting elected as a Senate majority leader.
Lisa, what do you think of Elon Musk showing up today? It was actually in the room for this when Donald Trump went to meet with House Republicans.
You used to work for a Speaker of the House. You know what this meeting is like.
When everybody comes back from the election, they all get back together here for the lame duck and talk about the way forward, the leaders that they want to pick, and so forth.
Elon Musk was in the room.
Apparently he didn't say anything, did a lot of waving, But there's a report that came out of thereafter Lauren Windsor tweeting. A senator told me that Elon Musk is threatening to fund a primary challenge to any House Republican who does not fall in line with Trump's agenda. How important of a role is Elon Musk playing in Washington right now?
Well, you know, I think it remains to be seen. Joe.
This is to me one of those things where I'm not sure there's enough room in Washington, or really in the globe for the two egos.
That are going to be competing for one another.
So I think right now it's very interesting to see that someone like Elon Musk wants to play a role. But look, he played a role in the disruption of Twitter, right, he played a role in the disruption of a lot of other That is primarily his role in the world right is to be a disruptor and an agent of change. And it also is the exact role that Donald Trump plays in not only the Republican Party, but in the
American culture, right. So these two forces as they sort of work around one another, are going to be very interesting to watch to me, because Elon Musk did definitely try to play very much in Pennsylvania, rewarding those who would come out and support Donald Trump with resources and even a bounty to win.
So it's going to be interesting to watch how that all plays out.
But I also think too that it's also a signal to the House, the house that I once knew, that I once worked in, that things are going.
To work very differently.
And that's I think, sort of reflective of what you're seeing even in the picks for the cabinet, Joe, is that we are not We can't apply the old playbook to the playbook that's being used today. This is very different Washington. This is very different governing, and it's going to be the way things are going to move now for the next four years.
Really interesting at your thoughts on this. I don't know that Elon Musk was on your dance card for the new Congress, never mind the new White House. But he is going to be working with Donald Trump, who made this official last night, a new Department of Government Efficiency. Remember they came up with this with while they were spitballing in their interview on Twitter spaces. So cut government
spending to streamline bureaucracy. If Avake Ramaswami is going to help run this thing used to work in the White House. This is not an official government agency. So is this just window dressing? How would it work?
Well, first, let's say this tip back. I think it's a bit hilarious that they have a Department of Government Efficiency and have two people running it.
But putting that aside, I think it's also you know, an exam way for them to get around, you know, the some of the ethics rules within the White House we have should ask serious questions. I mean, if you go in to work in the White House, you have to submit your financials, you have to go through a whole background check. There's a whole bunch of questions that they ask about your you know, drug use and everything else.
And that's something that if you're an outside you.
Know, government uh employee ors or someone who's supporting in this weird structure, you're not subject to those ethics rules. And so there's real you could quit I think questions to be asked there.
It's gonna be very hard to one put forward ideas. You've got to get them passed. And we know the House majority. If it as it.
Looks like Republicans end up taking the House, you're gonna have one to two votes, maybe maybe three vote margin to get all those things past. Is gonna That's gonna be a lot of capital that Speaker Mike Johnson, if he's Speaker, will have to.
Have to spend.
And that's before we even get to whether he'll even have a lot of these members who Trump is plucking for his cabinet, who will.
Even then whether there will be new members to replace them.
So I think there's a lot of kind of questions to be asked about how quickly this will go into effect and whether the you know, the Doge structure will actually end up living up to its name.
I love that you're calling it that. I mean, this is like, this is for real. Every time we say Doge Lisa producer James retirement account goes up.
I should know better.
Elon Musk said it could become the Manhattan Project of our time.
Is that what you expect? Lisa Kamussa Miller.
You know, Look, I think Joe that we need to stay, stay stort of steady on this. I think Elon Musk would love for it to be the Manhattan Project.
In his time. But you know, to Adam's point that he.
Made about all of the processes that are in place, don't forget that the last time Trump was in office, he circumvented a.
Lot of those processes. So I do think.
That this very well could be the kind of disruptor that Elon Musk and vi vaik Ramaswami and the President himself want to see happen.
They want to affect change. They feel like the election.
Results absolutely galvanize that for them as a pathway forward. People, regardless of all of the issues that surround Donald Trump, are anxious and willing for change, and I think that this is absolutely an indication that that is the direction that this administration is going to take.
Well, there's a lot there, Adam. Elon Musk says, this will send shock waves through the system. This is a quote and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people exclamation point when we talk about government waste, though, Adam, everyone's got a different idea of what counts as waste. The fact of the matter is every Penny has a constituency behind it, doesn't it How easy is this going to be to cut two trillion dollars?
I mean, it's not gonna be easy at all.
But look, I'm old enough to remember, and I get the great hairs to prove it. I guess when Elon Musk's own you know, Tesla was considered you know, a boon doggle that is by the Obama administration way back when it was funding to try to help get an electric vehicle industry off the ground in the in the US, and people deem that, you know, as something that was a waste of money. So I think every interest in Washington, there are people who were there to defend it, to protect it.
And that goes both sides.
That not not just you know, on the defense spending, that's not just you know this healthcare across the board.
And so there's a lot of questions I think to be asked about how effective he will actually be in shaping that. And again Congress will have to have a say.
There's going to be a budget process, and I think you're cutting two trillion from the budget in a year.
There's a lot of pain. And Elon's alluded to that pain.
But members of Congress don't exactly like to go back and sell pain back to their constituents.
Yeah, they kind of have a thing about that.
I thought when you said you're old enough to remember, you might reach for Simpson Bulls.
Been hearing a lot about that lately.
And I don't I don't mean to give you PTSD, Lisa, because I know we all look through that.
We'll see if this is more effective.
We have a lot to learn here about the DOGE, but in the meantime, let's help producer James make some money. Our panel stays with us, Lisa Camusa, Miller and the great Adam Hodge. This is a good combination and we're gonna have a lot more to talk about next hour. As we run through the list, we've barely gotten to anything beyond Elon Musk. How about the new choice for
Defense Secretary? A lot more where this came from, the new head of the CIA, Donald Trump coming out with a lot of appointments in the last twenty four hours. Kaylee Lions will be back from the White House in our second hour as we welcome our global television audience to the conversation. It's a big day around here, continuity of government, the two presidents meet, and a new leadership battle on Capitol Hill.
John Thune in front of the Senate This is Bloomberg.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch Just Live weekdays at noon Eastern on Epocarplay and then Rounoro with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts A watch us live on YouTube.
Here in Washington. Kaylee lines alongside Joe Matthew. This is Balance of Power on Bloomberg TV and Radio. On what
is an incredibly busy day in Washington. Is Donald Trump, the President elect and former president, comes back to town, beginning his day meeting with the House Republican Conference and then moving on to the White House where we saw something that didn't take place the last go around in twenty twenty, a meeting and in some ways a visual image of the handoff that is happening between two presidents. Joe Biden sitting down in the Oval with Donald Trump West.
The President elect and former president. Thank you mc donald, congratulation, thank you, and looking forward to having a likely said smooth transition toever we can make sure you're a commodating what you need, and we're going to get a chance to talk across on that today.
It's good.
Welcome.
Weank you, Jay, thank you very much. And politics is tough, and it's many cases not a very nice world, but it is a nice world today, and I appreciate very much a transition that's so smooth. It'll be as smooth as can get it.
I very much appreciate that you you are.
Sitting in front of the fireplace in the Oval Office, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. We've learned that meeting has concluded.
Now.
It was a lengthy one, the better part of two hours. That was just the beginning. By the way, if you're with us on Bloomberg TV or radio seeing or hearing, what just.
Occurred was the start of a lengthy session.
The press pool then ushered out of the room, and we want to bring you back to the White House right now on the North lawn for an update from Bloomberg's Tyler Kendall.
They must have had a lot to talk about, Tyler. What are you seeing there?
Yeah, hey, Joe, So I'm here at the White House as you just announced that meeting between President Biden and President Elect Donald Trump has concluded. They started at eleven seven Eastern, so going for almost two hours.
Now.
Of course, this meeting was largely viewed as symbolic, right the White House saying it was to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, President Biden saying He'll make sure that that goes as smooth as possible, earlier in the week, saying that's because that is what Americans quote deserve. Now, we do know that four years ago Donald Trump did not extend this same tradition to president then President elect Joe Biden. However, today they did appear cordial, as you
heard in those remarks off the top. We also know that they were both joined by their respective chiefs of staff, of course, the current White House Chief of Staff Jeff
Science and incoming Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Now, in terms of what they could have talked about, we are still waiting to hear if he does come out, if there is any readout from the meeting, but experts do tell us that national security was probably pretty high on that list, mostly because President Electrump hasn't received those same
sort of classified briefings these last four years. Another clue that we can look to is what President Biden has been pushing for in these final weeks of his administration. We know that National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said that they will push the truck transition, particularly when it comes to continued security assistance for Ukraine. So that might be one of those potential talking points that they spoke about.
But Joe and Keyley, just quickly, I will note that as somebody who has interviewed Senator Jade Vance now Vice President elect JD Vance numerous times on Capitol Hill, he is one of those staunchest opponents of ah Ukraine. So that's definitely one of the stories we're going to be following and see if any headlines come out of that meeting today.
All right, bloombergs Tyler, Kendall live at the North lawn of the White House. Thank you so much. Again that meeting between President Biden and President Elect Trump at the White House has concluded. We want to turn now for more reaction to Bloomberg. Senior reporter and editor who covers the White House, Michelle jam Risco, who's here with us in our Washington.
D C.
Studio. So Michelle Tyler was just making the point that foreign policy could have featured heavily in this conversation. We also got some foreign policy news while this meeting was happening. Joe Biden meeting in the Oval, and we're getting news about a meeting Joe Biden will have on the sidelines of the APEX summit in Peru this weekend.
Yeah, finally some confirmation of a meeting that we thought might occur, a final meeting between the two, So it'll be the last of three that they've had as leaders, of course interrupted a little bit by COVID era negotiations. But yeah, I think there's a lot of emphasis on national security issues, and for good reason. I think there's a lot that Biden, who is especially a foreign policy president in his own terms and his own liking, there's
a lot that he wants to discuss. He wants to close the loop on.
He wants to.
Pass the torch and ensure that he is able to Trump proof, so to speak, some of his legacy on foreign policy issues, even knowing that the two leaders, Trump and Biden disagree strongly on many ways of foreign policy and on many of the conflicts that are raging right now the.
World of this conversation, if we've got a lame duck president here, of course, and how is it collared by the election of Donald Trump, who is professing to be the greatest China Hawk of them all.
Yeah, I mean, I think one thing that the White House is keen to do is to kind of I shouldn't say celebrate, but at least point to successes of their intense diplomacy as they call it, and managing the relationship with China. You know, this is another thing. You know, if you talk about optics, you know, the meeting, you could say the same or asked the same question of the meeting today between Biden and Trump. I mean, why do it if they both disagree on so many things.
They wanted to show in that sense they wanted to show a smooth transition, and in the sense of meeting Biden and she, I mean, I think they want to kind of ensure that the relationship is managed in a stable way as possible during this transition, as well as when they hand off to someone who has a very different view of how to handle things with the world's number two economy.
Well, so, as we consider the myriad views here, it's not just about the view of the President elect himself, but also those who he has chosen to be close to him and advise him on matters of national security and foreign policy. Given the nature of the picks he has already made, what picture is it painting?
Yeah, well, at first.
We saw some China hawks, right We saw lis Stefanak, who's had that high on her agenda. We saw Mike Waltz, who's talked about a cold war between the US and China. And we saw Rubio, who is yet to be confirmed by Trump but floated as Secretary of State, who's one
of the biggest China hawks of them all. But you know, on this issue, of course, Washington is rife with folks who want to get tough on China and who have championed some of the tougher negotiations and tougher sanctions and penalties that the US has applied under the Biden administration. But there's also at least two big obstacles to a sort of China hawk policy in the way that it
has been under a Trump administration. When you have someone like Elon Musk, the world's richest man, who has a pretty dense network financial network in Asia and in China, included half of his electric vehicles produced in China. I mean, there's one obstacle to hitting them very hard and kind of removing and decoupling or you know, separating the economies
in any regard. And then the second is this intriguing and unfolding story about Trump's plans or supposed plans to try to overturn or not comply with the TikTok ban or forced sale or ban, i should say, which is really coming hot in January. So there's a lot to discuss there, and a lot that will be at odds between who he's drafting into his administration and what he wants to do with his foreign policy toward China.
Deeply curious to see what Donald Trump does with the TikTok situation, Michelle jim Risco, Bloomberg Senior Reporter Editor, Thank
you so much for the insights, Michelle. On an important day in Washington, as we add the voice of a member of Congress, a Republican member who was in the room today for the meeting with Donald Trump, Elon Musk in tow and of course Speaker Mike Johnson, who received the endorsement of the President elects Mark Molinaro, outgoing Republican Congressman from New York's nineteenth Congressman, great to see you, Welcome back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. Bring us in
the room for this opportunity today. Who was a bigger hit Trump or Musk?
A little question, that was President Donald Trump. There was a great degree of enthusiasm. I think you know met meeting. That enthusiasm in the room has been the economic rebound,
and we certainly see that across the country. But without question, there's unity and the House Republican Conference and that unity in partnership with Senator Thoune now as majority leader, really sets up the environment for President Trump to deliver not only on his mandate but on his vision to make this country great again.
Well before the next Congress takes its seats. Congressman, there is this Congress to finish up in this lame duck session. Did he express what he would like to see accomplished before he takes the oath of office in January?
He was very specific about about assembling his cabinet, and I will tell you it was more for thinking than the next thirty or forty days. I mean, quite frankly, with an incoming Republican majority in the Senate. It benefits the president to obviously put bigger questions into that Congress, right because again, the American people spoke overwhelmingly. They embrace the America First agenda. They support President Trump with now an historic victory and frankly, a unified government Senate, House
and White House, and to deliver on efficiencies. And I will tell you this, he spent a lot of time talking about efficiency and government. Obviously the big ticket items border security, confronting and strengthening America's role across the globe, but also looking internally and making this government function again, respect taxpayers, and deliver on greater efficiency and his vision for making sure that the federal government actually do its job.
Well, Well, Congressman, we've got a funding deadline coming up on December twentieth. There's some reporting out there today that there's a desire by some Republicans, some pro Trump Republicans, to extend funding with a stop gap through September. Take it off as plate, let him work on the rest of the agenda. I'm assuming the Freedom Caucus wouldn't stand for that. Where do you stand on that matter? And what's a more likely scenario if that's not the case.
Well, we're at the point now where we're going to start very early next year in appropriations discussions for twenty five and twenty six. It does make sense to extend the current CR later in the year, allow the President to assemble the cabinet, get organized. We're going to have to deal with a whole host of his issues. They
will of course reconciliation, confronting obviously international questions. And I just think the setting forth the process to get the twenty five to twenty six appropriation structure in place, you know, really lends itself simply to extending the CR later into next year.
It likely makes sense.
It'll have some opposition, certainly, and frankly, the two Houses are going to respond to what the President really hopes to achieve. But we have this moment. I mean, listen, the President is focused on delivering results, and I think that means everything from getting FEMA to focus on responding effectively to Americans to making sure our transportation infrastructure actually is safe and works. And so there's going to be
a hefty agenda moving forward. See our extension later in the year seems to make the most sense.
Yeah, later being September or are you in the camp to get this done through March.
Oh, I mean, listen, I won't be returning next year, but I think later in the year is the better option. It's going to be too if we try to crunch this into the first quarter of next year. There's just too much to have to achieve in that very short window of opportunity. We don't want to compound or complicate the president's agenda, and he has a broad, bold agenda that was met with a national mandate.
Well, Congressman, you certainly won't be there in January, but I do wonder if you may have a return to the House in your sites. Congressman Elise Stephonic, whose district is very close to yours in the state of New York, has been tapped to be ambassador to the UN assuming she gets confirmed. That's a seat up for grabs. Would you go for it?
I've said this for some flattered A good number of people in that district have reached out to me. I know upstate New York pretty well. I ran for governor in twenty eighteen and frankly gave voice to a lot of these communities. This has been an honor of lifetime these last two years. They just finished counting votes in my race yesterday. My hope and my goal is to remain active in representing in some capacity and serving in some capacity people up state New York. And so at
this point we'll see how that plays out. But I'm very much interested in furthering the President's agenda, ensuring that America meets this moment and that the people up state New York have an aggressive fighter on their behalf.
Sounds like you might have plans, Congressman. They did just finish counting the votes in your race yesterday, and I think it's worth noting as we saw Donald Trump return to the White House today with Joe Biden, who is clearly trying to express the importance of continuity of government here in the peaceful transfer of power that you immediately conceded your race.
You had some very nice things, in.
Fact, to say about Democrat Josh Riley, who won the election, congratulating him early on. Is that a model for your colleagues to follow.
A Listen, I honor the results and do wish him well. We're not enemies, we're opponents, and I do think even as President Trump earlier met with President Biden, there was a camaraderie and acknowledgment that the transition of power should should move seamlessly, and that there needs to be a respect for the great democratic proceeds. And by the way, again, America delivered a hit, an historic win for the president, and the president in return seeks to fulfill that mandate,
and that means serving everybody. And I think we heard that. I certainly know we heard that in conference today. But I respect the outcome of the election. Listen, I was at the receiving end of a brutalized and brutal, a brutal campaign. They outspent us by about eight and a half million dollars. But the results are the results. We
respect them. We move forward, and I will tell you though, I remain committed to ensuring both the success of the House Republican Conference, the success of President Donald Trump and his administration, and the goal of truly making this country as great as it can be and as it ought to be, but also making sure the people upstate New York are well represented and respected well.
Finally, Congressman, as we considered the conference, you obviously have been operating in what has been a thin majority for the last two years, and While the majority does look like it will be retained once again, the margin could be very tight. How would you advise your colleagues to avoid the mistakes of the last two years in the next two and remaining cohesive.
Well, we have the benefit of now having a Republican majority in the Senate and of course at President Trump's election, so there's going to be a real push to stay united. The President made that clear in conference in the meeting we had today, But there's gonna be a push to stay united. I think that pressure and the leadership that the President will provide in that regard will keep some
from causing some degree of chaos. But yes, the Speaker is well aware, and I've got nothing but admiration for Mike Johnson and the leadership team in particular as at least dephonically. Obviously, her leadership and conference will be very, very useful and effective. But again, I think the Speaker understands that there's going to have to be a lot of coalition building and consensus molding. Having the President lean in and Senator Thun and the majority in the Senate
makes that a little bit easier. But we're diverse. Conference, you know that you've seen it on full display. It's just my advice. My advice is work hard to mold consensus, Listen to voices, both that which agree with you and that which disagree. Into My colleagues throughout the House Republican Conference, respect the fact that Republicans were given a mandate to deliver a safer country, a more secure nation, and a stronger economy.
All right, Congressman Mark Molnaro, the Republican from New York live from Capitol Hill, thank you so much for joining us, And of course, a reminder, the Republican House leadership elections will be taking place later today after Senator John Thune was tapped as the next majority leader. We'll have full coverage here on Bloomberg TV and radio.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Apple car Play and then roud Oro with the Bloomberg Business app. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, just say to play Bloomberg eleven.
We consider it the fact that leadership is going to be instrumental in both chambers in advancing the agenda of Donald Trump. As we heard Senator thun there, he does want to ensure that Trump has the tools and support needed for that agenda, and on things like tax policy, sure you need Congress to go along with you. On other policies the president is able to act with a little bit more authority, like say on tariffs.
I think that you're reaching to the right place here, which is something that we want to talk about. In an important conversation with Nazak Nikochtar, national Security Practice.
Group lead at Wiley Rain here.
In Washington, former Department of Commerce Assistant secretary and under secretary.
Great to see you at the table, Thanks for joining us.
Your concerns now maybe none about this train rolling down the tracks because Donald Trump just stopped by the White House. The next time he's there, I suspect he'll be the president of the United States.
Absolutely. He's made no mistakes that he There's lots of economic distortions that he's going to take on that have impaired the US's ability to produce. His downwardly has had downward impacts on jobs, productivity, innovation, corporate profits right GDP. And so he has made clear that he is going to pursue terror policies primarily to correct for those distortions.
Well, so let's talk about what he's really said about tariffs. He suggested ten to twenty percent blanket on all imports. You suggested numbers of sixty percent plus on Chinese goods, perhaps one hundred percent or more on certain goods like cars coming out of Mexico. How realistic are those figures or do you expect in reality they will be much lower.
So it's going to be really based on industry by industry. But I want to address the global tariff issue because I hear this question constantly. And this isn't really a matter of picking fights with our allies, because that's just not what anybody is in the business to do. This is really recognizing the fact that China's industrial policies, China's
overcapacity dotworted global prices. When you think about critical minerals, when you think about autos, when you think about semiconductors, when you think about steel, aluminum, the list goes on. These are materials that go into a lot of manufactured goods, and when we are overflowed in the United States by cheap, distortedly priced goods because of the overcapacity, has depressed global
prices we're losing jobs, we're losing industry output. We've got it, introduced tariffs globally to correct for those distortions.
The big conversation, or I guess argument here in Washington has been whether the money from tariffs would be enough to offset tax cuts, for instance, when you start considering lack of revenues potentially in a Trump administration, we don't talk much about retribution. What would be the answer to all of these teriffs from other countries, starting with China.
Yeah, I mean, I think without question what I found, having previously served in the Trump administration is that when we have articulated to the EU, for example, the reason for our care of policies, right, we do have an issue with steal and aluminum overcapacity. The European producers who are not selling in their home markets and have been displaced from the global markets and now are shifting to the United States, they actually tend to understand what we're doing.
And furthermore, when we have imposed teriffs to correct for these distortions, our allies were then inundated with the Chinese over capacity, and then they invoked safeguard measures to protect their industries too from those distortions. So I think that once we engage with allies and articulate the reasons why we're doing this, they'll either not retaliate or they will take the corrective measures they need that will allow us to remove the tariffs because they've addressed those distortions in
their market. We've done that before. I think we're going to expect to see that again.
But what would you say to those who view this mechanism for correcting those distortions is effectively just raising the price of everything because importers are still going to have to pay these levies. Is that's what is necessary in flight prices in order to correct this?
That is a great question. So in the last administration, when we impose those tariffs on the Chinese goods, and when we pose it the tariffs on steel and aluminum goods, the US International Trade Commission, it's a quasi unit, a government body, bipartisan bases, conducted a study about two years ago and found that those tariffs had zero inflationary effect in it at most infinitesimony we're targeted.
We're not talking about the global terariffs.
Right that you're discussing, right, And so there's a couple of things that I that's worth underscoring. We're not looking at just price increases in isolation. It's really important for the economy to be healthy to correct for those distortions and the prices that gives you long term economic growth stability, and those price increases that may be somewhat will be offset by rises and wages, corporate productive output, et cetera. So I would expect that those moderate tariffs would translate
into healthy economic gains for the United States. On the China side, President Trump has underscored significant tariffs. Even with the those tariffs on the Mexican industries, right, it's where China has been behind those We've noticed that China tends to up to a certain point, China tends to absorb those tariffs. And the reason it doesn't translate those tariffs into price increases is because China doesn't want to displace itself from the market, and if those tariffs gets too high,
China then abandons the US market. But we see very few instances of actually the pass through on the China side.
Was it the right thing for the Biden administration to continue with the Trump tariffs that that have been in place this has become the new normal.
Absolutely, And it wasn't just the continuation of the Trump tariffs. President Trump, the Trump administration imposed those tariffs as a countermeasure, a legally authorized countermeasure to address China's IP theft. And as long as China's IP theft continues and it imposes an economic cost to the US economy of fifty billion dollars a year, absolutely, those tariff measures are appropriate. They're
legally authorized. Plus, what else are we going to do to compel the Chinese government to change its acts, policies, and practices.
We consider other ways in which to compel them. It's not just tariff'sys administration has pursued, but export controls as well, making it harder for China to develop strategic technologies. Have those been affected or should we effective or should we expect this incoming administration to go harder on that, to crack down more?
I think very much harder. I think there's been a growing recognition. I am really glad that Congress and folks in the industry and in the think tank community have learned to take the times to educate themselves about export controls, because I think the growing recognition has been the small yard high friends approach isn't working. We need to expand it. With respect to China, I think there's going to be
a significant movement which I wholeheartedly support. Did you regulate with respect to allies and really increase those guardrails with respect to countries of concern? And I think the Trump administration most certainly will move in that direction just quickly.
We have thirty seconds left here. Should Robert Leithheiser reprise his role as USTR in this incoming administration? Would you advocate for that?
I think Robert Leiittheiser is doing the nation of Serus by lending his expertise to President Trump on all things trade and trade, national security, and nexus. I would be glad for him to continue in any capacity. He and President Trump se fit all right, And I.
Was like, thank you so much for joining us, And I was like, Nacoctar is national Security Practice group lead at Wiley Rihan and former Department of Commerce Assistant Secretary and undersecretary during the Trump administration. Thank you for being here with us on the early edition of Balance of Power.
Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com