I always try to keep my promises, so -- My next meeting's not for 15 minutes, so we have a little bit of time.
With regards to the retirement planning --
Uh-huh.
-- about [Inaudible] is that realistic at this point in time [Inaudible]?
Well, we -- We -- We -- We believe that the, uh, retirement account, uh, is something that we've been working closely with, uh, treasury on, uh, and it's something that can be stood up, uh, right away. And, uh, so -- But in the end, uh, the Savers Match program, which was passed in 2022 and begins in 2027, needed to be completely revamped so that it would actually work.
And that's something that our team has been working on closely with Treasury. I think that all of us intend, in the fullness of time, to expand that program so that it affects everybody. The president talked about it last night.
Director, thanks to the, uh, Biden administration --
Excuse me?
Thanks to the Biden administration, millions of families are locked outside of the housing market right now. Uh, if the Fed cuts 150 basis points like the president wants, uh, will that meaningfully spark the housing sector, and do you think it'll break down mortgage rates?
Well, I think that the housing sector is something that the president's, uh, focused like a laser beam on, and he mentioned in the State of the Union that he wants to end the practice of institutional investors buying homes. And, uh, think about it, that if you went and, and tried to buy a home right now, you probably get outbid by an institutional investor.
There's some cities in the US where 20% of homes are now owned by institutional investors because they then wanna charge high rents and maybe even use market power to do so. And so I think that's, uh, one policy. Uh, we've already reduced mortgage, uh, costs by about $4,000 per family this year. And I think that one of the ways you do that is you create a circumstance where mortgage rates could go down through, uh, prudent Fannie and Freddie policy, which we get from Bill Pulte, but also by managing the deficit.
And so we cut the deficit last year, a little less than $600 billion, something people thought was impossible. That puts downward pressure on inflation and interest rates.
President Trump said at the weekend he was gonna be bringing in 15% tariffs. As you know, they came in at 10 -- Uh, they were -- The order came in at 10% tariffs.
Mm-hmm.
When will those 15% tariffs be going into effect?
I -- I think that that's still being, uh, discussed. Uh, and, and depends on, uh, the status of existing negotiations and existing deals. And -- And so that's still a work in part subject.
The -- The [Inaudible] from 10% to 15%?
Ex- -- excuse me?
I just wanted to ask on a similar subject, the 10% initially to the 15%, what would end up [Inaudible] there to elevate the tariffs from the 10% initially to that 15%?
Uh, we, we'll see what -- When the final announcement is made, I'm sure it'll be clarified.
The European --
Which countries are coming back to the table to renegotiate? The EU --
You should talk to Jamieson Greer about that.
So you're not hearing anything about countries wanting to come and negotiate [Inaudible]?
I'm not -- I'm not the negotiator. That's the USTR's job. Do you have a question?
How exactly does the president plan to sell his message when he hits the road later this week?
Well, I think the, the reviews of the State of the Union address have been through the roof, and I think they, they should be. That he, uh, both, uh, mentioned really, really impressive accomplishments that have lifted incomes, real incomes by $1,400. Uh, he, uh, had us put out, uh, at the whitehouse.gov website fact checks, uh, for everything that he said to the speech so that not only do we have lots of great news to, to brag about, but we also documented it. And then he talked about his plans for the future.
And so he's not gonna run, um, or, or Congress isn't gonna run next fall resting on laurels, but rather with great new ideas like the savings plan that he talked about.
First, the European Union postponed its vote on the trade deal with the US after the Supreme Court decision.
Mm-hmm.
Why would they commit to, uh, upholding the deal if they can just wait five months and the tariff goes to zero? And the second question, on January 13th, the President said that he was imposing immediately tariffs on all countries, 25% of, on all countries that do business with Iran. He never followed up this.
Nothing happened.
Well, there are negotiations still going on right now on that matter. And, uh, remember that when, uh, President had the team plan for the tariff agenda, that he made sure that there were backup plans and backup plans for backup plans should the Supreme Court, which we think we disagree, but respect, uh, the ruling.
Uh, but should the Supreme Court toss out the tariffs, that we've got 301s and the 122s and other things. So the, the tariffs are not going back to zero. That's not going to happen.
What about the re --
Is there political will in the White House to get a second reconciliation bill with more tax cuts? Is that a thing that the White House wants to do?
It's -- It's something that is being discussed right now.
Sorry, one more international question. You hosted [Inaudible] Gas Security Summit earlier this week. We have seen read out from participating countries. What is the US's perspective? What are you committing to?
For? I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Tell us about the Gas Security Summit, you hosted --
Um --
-- politics and --
Uh-huh. Yeah, that, that was.
What is the US's commitment?
That -- That was a Chris Wright thing, so you should talk to him about it. Okay, thanks everybody.
Do you think the administration is doing enough to massage people's concerns?