24/04/17

Germany not worried by US corporate tax reform plans

The IMF expects 2.5 percent expansion for the U.S.in 2018, reports The Normangee Star.

In its communique Saturday, the International Monetary Fund urged nations to avoid “inward-looking policies”, but did not include the stronger language of the October communique.

“In our view, excessively large trade surpluses, like excessively large trade deficits, are not conducive to supporting a free and fair trading system”, he said in a statement to the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the IMF’s steering committee.

Eswar Prasad, a trade economist at Cornell University, said the changes in the International Monetary Fund and G-20 communiques reflect the Trump administration’s determination to undo decades of American policy in favor of ever-freer trade.

“If our markets are open, there should be a reciprocal nature to other people’s markets”, Mnuchin said Saturday. He said that the administration’s goal was to make trade more fair and was not aimed at erecting protectionist barriers.

Mnuchin said the United States expected to be treated as it treats others.

Mnuchin reiterated that President Donald Trump administration was planning to bring the high corporate tax rates down and simplify tax codes for individuals. – Reuters picWASHINGTON, April 23 ― The United States, which is considering new protectionist policies, believes in “free and fair” trade, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said yesterday. “Maybe a big postcard, but you can still stick it in the mail”.

Mnuchin has anchored his goals as Treasury secretary – which include tax reform and regulatory relief – to doubling the pace of domestic growth to as much as 4 percent. “If the United States lowers its corporate taxes to European or global levels that won’t bother me a bit”. His action could lead to higher tariffs on steel imports.

He called the IMF’s forecast for US growth “a little conservative”, saying that the USA economy could grow by 3 percent or higher with the support of tax reforms and regulatory relief.

But there are risks to the sunny outlook.

The world economy has struggled to regain millions of jobs lost after a devastating financial crisis hit in 2008 and the finance leaders acknowledged the adverse effects the deep-downturn, playing a major role in the rising pressures against free trade and immigration.

Global finance leaders sought to avoid conflict with the Trump administration over trade and environmental policy and welcomed signs the world economy is pulling out of the doldrums.

If more isn’t done, “we will see more protectionism and countries retreating from globalization”, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters after a meeting of the finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20, which represents the biggest global economies.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called the International Monetary Fund’s outlook for the USA economy a “little conservative” as he repeated the Trump administration’s goal of getting to 3 percent growth or faster.

Ireland could lose €4bn in rev…