Peter Boockvar: What Trump’s Dollar Comments Really Mean

An important bit of nuance from Peter Boockvar regarding Trump’s dollar comments yesterday – are they really related to what he wants to do with the border tax?

While it’s now official that DJT doesn’t like a strong dollar, it’s not a complete surprise considering his bizarre obsession with trade deficits but now we have confirmation. The implications run right into possible tax reform and the border adjustment tax constantly bandied about. That is because the 20% BAT tax on importers was modeled to be offset by a 20% rally in the US Dollar. And that BAT was forecasted to pay for half of that corporate tax cut.

These comments on the dollar come just days after the President’s subtle endorsement of a border tax of some sort in an interview with Maria Bartiromo just days ago. She asked him for his thoughts on it and he first said he didn’t like the word “adjustment” so wanted to refer to it as an import tax or a reciprocal tax. It’s a game of semantics but he seemed to be behind the concept. A BAT and a weaker dollar will send the US economy right into a recession and are at complete odds with each other.

Source:

Peter Boockvar
Managing Director, Chief Market Analyst
The Lindsey Group LLC