Hi, Mr. -- -
[Inaudible] take a couple?
Yeah, would love that.
It decided to rain, so I don't know how long.
Yeah, if you have a few minutes, we would appreciate your time. Thank you.
Sure.
Sure. Well, Trump just posted that there's a few great trade deals in the hopper. Can you give us any glimpse at what trade deals might be coming next beyond Ukraine?
There are about two dozen right now and the question of what the priority is, I think is up to the president. And I think that Howard Lutnick and Jamison Greer have suggested that they might be moving towards getting a good deal in Asia and there are a number of candidates for that. And that way, we're kind of getting trade deals all around the world, and I think they like the look of that.
But the president, in the end, will decide and he's got lots to choose from, in terms of what the next deal is. But again, the interesting thing is that they're kind of bespoke deals. And so they really are going into the things that are the big concerns for the individual countries. And so each deal is quite a bit different, and so that's why they're coming one at a time.
Do you anticipate -- he said though, that there's three negotiations right now that are close, trade negotiations. Do you anticipate it'll be some of the countries in the Pacific region, like you and others have been kind of outlining, India, South Korea, Japan?
That would be my expectation for the next one. Yeah. But there are so many deals that are close and some are easier than others. I think the deal with India was especially complex, but it looks like it's getting close to the finish line.
Is the war at all -- or sorry, not the war. Is the conflict, the escalating conflict between India and Pakistan at all affecting any of those talks or the timing on that?
It's not something I've discussed.
OK. I had a question about -- I know you were just talking on CNBC about the tax bill. The president posted this morning that he would be OK with raising taxes on the rich. Is that something that is being seriously considered in this bill? I know that one of the key problems right now is the president has a lot of very expensive priorities, some of which you wrote know about tax on tips and tax of overtime and how to pay for it. So I'm curious.
The president is not a strong advocate of that, but he is a strong advocate of many things like no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and nice treatment for auto loans. And he has cited his priorities and he understands that in the end, the final bill will include some priorities of members of the House and the Senate.
That's how the democratic process works and that's really what this conversation is about.
But how do you expect to pay for -- so many of the president's priorities that you laid out --
Well, the budget rules in the House and the Senate are very clearly identified, that includes spending cuts and so on, and they don't include dynamic scores. And so in the fullness of time, with the spending cuts that we're achieving and the dynamic score of the tax bill, we're highly confident that we're going to reduce the deficit and make bond markets celebrate.
And we're already seeing that with lower interest rates right now.
And you think you'll be able to get all of those priorities in the bill?
I think that the president's top priorities have been communicated and I have not seen anyone suggest that they're not going to be in the bill.
On China tomorrow, Trump said today 80 percent would be OK.
It will come out tomorrow, what happens is a negotiation.
So you don't anticipate any drop-in tariffs before those talks?
I think that everything will happen while the talks are happening, not before.
Wow. OK. So tomorrow?
Yeah. OK. Thank you, guys. I don't want to get too wet. Oh, did I do that to you?
Yeah, thanks for stopping. I know. Right when I walked out. Can I ask you quickly about --
One last question I told -- yeah.
OK. I'm sorry if I missed this, and they already asked it, but about Trump's post this morning about reducing China's tariffs almost by half, by 145 percent --
Scott Bessett and Jamieson Greer are going into the negotiations with an open mind, working closely with their colleagues and there won't be news about what happens to tariffs or other things until after the talks finish.
Do you think that he's far enough with this 80 percent or do you think he should lower it even more?
All that will be worked out during the negotiations in Geneva.
OK.
OK? Thanks. Yeah.
Thank you so much, Kevin. Thank you. Appreciate it.