Overnight Finance: Trump escalates feud with big business over NAFTA | Ryan leading bipartisan delegation to Puerto Rico | Conservative groups unite behind tax plan | House Budget chair fires back at Corker

Trump war of words with big business over NAFTA escalates: President Trump renewed his threat to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as the biggest business lobby aggressively pushed back in an escalating war of words between the two sides.

Trump bashed NAFTA during his populist campaign for the presidency, calling it a disaster for American workers, and has repeatedly called for severing trade ties with economic partners Mexico and Canada as part of a strategy to get a better deal for the United States.

“I happen to think that NAFTA will have to be terminated if we’re going to make it good,” Trump said in a wide-ranging interview with Forbes released on Tuesday. “Otherwise, I believe you can’t negotiate a good deal.”

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Tom Donohue is also ramping up his rhetoric as negotiators meet this week in the latest round of talks on the pact.

“Let me be forceful and direct,” Donohue said during remarks on Tuesday in Mexico City. “There are several poison pill proposals still on the table that could doom the entire deal.”

Donohue warned that Trump’s threats to leave the deal are not considered bargaining chips in the complex negotiations between the three countries. The Hill’s Vicki Needham reports: http://bit.ly/2ybFyDf.

 

Ryan leading bipartisan delegation to Puerto Rico: Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will lead a bipartisan delegation to Puerto Rico on Friday to view the damage from Hurricane Maria, his office said.

Ryan’s visit is expected to follow a vote in the House this week to approve at least $29 billion in aid for communities affected by recent hurricanes and wildfires.

Puerto Rico had been hit by Hurricane Irma last month before Hurricane Maria subsequently ravaged the U.S. territory. Most of the island remains without power, and many residents lack adequate food or water supplies.

Ryan will travel to Puerto Rico with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) and the panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Nita Lowey (N.Y.). Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative in Congress, Jenniffer González-Colón (R), and House GOP Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) are also expected to attend.

Ryan is expected to hold a news conference while in Puerto Rico and meet with local officials and emergency personnel. The Hill’s Cristina Marcos has more: http://bit.ly/2yblAbo.

 

House Budget chair fires back at Corker: ‘I think the Senate is an adult day care center’: Rep. Diane Black (R-Tenn.) on Tuesday slammed the Senate as “an adult day care center” saying the upper chamber “can’t get anything done.”

During an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” the radio host asked Black what she thought of the ongoing feud between Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and President Trump.

“I’m not sure that those kinds of things in the media really help us to be able to get to where we need to be,” Black said.

“Look, if you talk about an adult day care center, I’m sorry but I think the Senate is an adult day care center. They can’t get anything done over there.”

Black was referencing Corker’s remark describing the White House as “an adult day care center” after Trump fired off a series of tweets criticizing the retiring senator.

The congresswoman, who is running for governor in Tennessee and chairs the House Budget Committee, slammed the Senate’s repeated failed attempts to repeal and replace ObamaCare.

“You know, I think that is the adult day care center. But I’m not sure that all of this — throwing these words back and forth to one another — are really very helpful,” Black continued: http://bit.ly/2ybG3x7.

 

Gingrich to GOP: ‘Talk less about each other, more about tax cuts’: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Tuesday that Republicans should focus less on internal feuds and debates and more on tax cuts.

“This is what Republicans ought to do: Talk less about each other, more about tax cuts,” Gingrich said on CBS’s “This Morning.” “We’ll be a much better party.”

Gingrich said that Trump and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who is retiring after 2018, should work to mend the rift that has developed between them. The feud comes as Republicans are working to overhaul the nation’s tax code. 

“I hope the two of them will have lunch, get over it — I’m not sure if Corker golfs; that technique won’t work — but have lunch, get over it and let’s move on and help the country,” Gingrich said. http://bit.ly/2y9LpZt.

 

Conservative groups unite around GOP tax framework: A group of more than 30 conservative organizations is sending a letter to House members in support of the tax-reform framework Republicans released last month.

“It’s past time to give tax relief to American middle-class wage earners and allow job creators to compete,” the groups wrote in the letter.

The letter comes as lawmakers are working on creating legislation based on the GOP tax framework. Key Republicans have said they plan to release legislation once the House and Senate adopt a budget resolution, and GOP lawmakers and administration officials have said they want a tax bill enacted by the end of the year. http://bit.ly/2ybyFlk.

 

Happy Tuesday and welcome back to Overnight Finance. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-stage.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.

 

On tap tomorrow

The Hill hosts “Cracking the Tax Code: Prospects for Reform,” featuring Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Kevin Hassett, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), 8 a.m. http://bit.ly/2wDf4ZL.

House Financial Services Committee holds a markup on 23 bills, 10 a.m. http://bit.ly/2yLO1fe.

House Agriculture Committee: Hearing entitled “Examining the 2017 Agenda for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,” featuring CFTC Commissioner J. Christopher Giancarlo, 10 a.m. http://bit.ly/2yMWdfh.

Financial Services Roundtable (FSR) hosts a CEO discussion focused on how tax reform can fuel business lending, 11:30 a.m.

House Ways and Means Committee: Hearing on opportunities to expand U.S. trade relationships in the Asia-Pacific region, 2 p.m. http://bit.ly/2wC3EFi.

 

White House clarifies Trump’s ‘highest-taxed’ nation claim: The White House clarified on Tuesday President Trump’s repeated claims that America is the “highest taxed nation in the world,” arguing he is referring to the nation’s corporate tax rate instead of overall tax rate.

Trump has repeatedly made the claim, which has been proven false by a handful of independent arbiters. When pressed about his comments again on Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders weighed in.

“We are the highest-taxed, corporate taxed, in the developed economy. That’s a fact,” she said.

“That’s what he’s talking about. We are the highest corporate taxed country in the developed economies across the globe.”

But while a reporter pushed back by arguing that Trump’s repeated statements aren’t accurate because they’re too broad, Sanders responded that “it seems pretty consistent to me.”

The Hill’s Ben Kamisar has more: http://bit.ly/2zdZfdp 

 

Trump suggests NHL owner could help him with NAFTA negotiations: President Trump suggested on Tuesday that Ron Burkle, a co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins NHL team, could help his administration renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico. 

Trump during a White House visit by the Stanley Cup championship team praised Burkle’s negotiating abilities, and suggested that the billionaire investor could play a role in NAFTA discussions.

“Ron, how about negotiating some of our horrible trade deals that they’ve made?” Trump asked. “Here’s what I want, I want to get him. Oh, I would love to have Ron Burkle.

“And it’s great to have you Ron. But I really mean that, if you want to get involved in negotiating NAFTA, I like it. Because we’re renegotiating NAFTA, Ron.”

“Of course, he may not like that, because maybe he’s on the other side,” Trump added. “You’re not on the other side of NAFTA, Ron, are you?”

Burkle could be heard responding: “I am not.” http://bit.ly/2ybdobg.

McConnell: Dems used to back tax reform before Trump: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) penned an op-ed calling on Democrats to join the GOP in its push for tax reform. 

McConnell argued in the piece published Tuesday by NBC News that the tax reform effort is promoting the same ideas Democrats used to support before President Trump assumed office.

Trump and GOP leaders late last month pitched a nine-page framework as part of their tax reform efforts, with the hopes of full legislative text emerging in coming weeks. 

Democrats largely slammed the proposal, which seeks to lower the top rate and raise the bottom rate, double the standard deduction and nix many loopholes, with an exception for mortgage and charity.  They called it a giveaway to the rich.

McConnell addressed those issues in his piece.

“Let’s be clear: This effort is not about cutting taxes for some fat cat,” he argued. “Tax reform is our once-in-a-generation opportunity to replace an outdated tax system that holds our country back with one that actually works for you.” http://bit.ly/2ybwBK0.

 

Dems want to keep limits on churches, nonprofits in politics: A group of nearly 100 Democratic lawmakers are calling for tax-reform legislation to preserve limits on political activity by nonprofits.

The lawmakers urged Congress to maintain the “Johnson amendment,” which prohibits churches and other tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organizations from endorsing or opposing political candidates.

“This policy has successfully shielded our nation’s charitable community against the rancor of partisan politics and allowed them to freely address humanitarian, social, and community-specific problems in a nonpartisan manner,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to the leaders of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

The letter comes as Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee are focusing on drafting a bill to overhaul the tax code. Republicans have said they want to pass tax-reform legislation by the end of the year.

Many Republicans have sought to curb the Johnson amendment, arguing that the provision violates religious institutions’ First-Amendment rights. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) has said that he wants to include repeal of the Johnson amendment in a tax bill. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has more: http://bit.ly/2yathPb.

 

Pawlenty: Failure to pass tax revamp would be ‘abysmal failure’ for GOP: Financial Services Roundtable CEO Tim Pawlenty said Republicans would be responsible for “an abysmal failure” if they can’t pass a sweeping plan to cut tax rates and revamp deduction, according to the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Pawlenty, the former Republican governor of Minnesota who is currently leading the powerful financial services lobbying firm, said the GOP risks blowing a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to overhaul the tax code.

“You can’t be in charge as a party of both houses of Congress and the presidency and screw this up. Even this Congress can’t screw this up,” Pawlenty told the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

“You can’t run around the country for 10 years and say ‘If we ever get in control we will do this great tax reform,’ and then not get it done,” Pawlenty said. “We’ll head into the 2018 elections looking terrible.” http://bit.ly/2ybyc2s.

 

Russia to crack down on bitcoin: Russia looked poised for a crackdown on cryptocurrencies Tuesday, after Russian President Vladimir Putin called cryptocurrencies risky and the country’s central bank said it would block websites selling bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Russia’s decision to clamp down on digital currencies comes one month after Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that he would move to regulate bitcoin use.
On Tuesday, Sergei Shvetsov, a top official at the Russian central bank, criticized bitcoin transactions as “dubious.”

“We cannot stand apart. We cannot give direct and easy access to such dubious instruments for retail [investors],” Shvetsov said at a Moscow conference, according to Reuters.

In Sochi, Putin said the “usage of cryptocurrencies carries serious risks.”

“Cryptocurrencies are issued by an unlimited number of anonymous bodies. Thus buyers of cryptocurrencies could be involved in unlawful activities,” he continued: http://bit.ly/2ybduQa.

 

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-stage.thehill.com, vneedham@digital-stage.thehill.com, njagoda@digital-stage.thehill.com and nelis@digital-stage.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane,  @VickofTheHill, @NJagoda and @NivElis