Economist says Trump cares more about Wall Street than workers

Economist Robert Scott told Hill.TV on Tuesday President Trump has prioritized Wall Street’s interests over those of the working class during his administration. 

“He cares much more about the interests of Wall Street than he does about workers and main street companies that are producing goods here in the United States,” Scott, the director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising.”

{mosads}”Wall Street loves a strong dollar. It keeps those cheap imports available through outsourcing. It makes it easy to threaten workers if you’re going to move plants, keep their wages down. It keeps up the demand for stock high, stock prices stay high, profits going to traders stay up,” he continued. 

“But that’s not really in the interest of the economy,” he said. “We need a competitive dollar, one that’s going to allow us to rebalance trade and create a strong economy.” 

“There’s really a sharp distinction between what’s good for Wall Street, and what’s good for the rest of us, and it’s clear that I think in his policy actions, Trump has acted first and foremost to protect the interests of the wealthy,” he said. “We saw that with the tax cut. Most of the benefits of the tax cut went to multinational companies and the very wealthy.” 

Trump frequently touts the growing economy under his administration, though his administration’s trade war with China threatens to hurt the president with working-class voters. 

Earlier this month, Trump increased the tariff rate on $200 billion of Chinese imports, saying Beijing had reneged on previously agreed-upon positions in the negotiations. China hit back by increasing its tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. goods, set to go into effect on June 1.

— Julia Manchester