Rep. Hill Talks Fed Policy, USMCA, and Cryptocurrency Regulation with Yahoo Finance

Statement

Congressman French Hill (AR-02) joined Yahoo Finance's The Final Round to discuss the Fed's decision to cut interest rates in 2019, getting the USMCA trade deal to the House floor for a vote, and the possibility of a U.S.-backed cryptocurrency.

Key excerpts from Congressman Hill below:

On the Fed Cutting Rates:
"I think they made the right decision to cut rates when they did and I think now we need to see what's been the response of the market and what's been the response out in the mainstreet economy across the country where you still see some softening."

On USMCA and China Trade Negotiations:
"In my home state of Arkansas, trade supports over 100,000 Arkansans, and Canada and Mexico are our largest trading partners. So there's really nothing [more] to be done. USMCA has been approved in Canada, it's been approved in Mexico, and it's now time for the United States Congress to approve the USMCA. Let's get 2020 off to a great start in trade. I have not generally supported across the board steel and aluminum tariffs. I think we have to be competitive in steel and aluminum manufacturing here in the U.S., but across the board tariffs are distortive and they hurt intermediate goods manufacturers here in the country. So I haven't seen today the president's rationale for re-imposing tariffs on Brazil, but they originally had steel and aluminum tariffs imposed and then the president granted them an exception."

On the Future of Cryptocurrency:
"My view is that blockchain and digital currency are part of our future, both in financial services and in the broader commercial market. I would like to see in the future, the dollar have its own token and blockchain method of payments. That would not mean that people couldn't innovate in private ways to conduct those payments, but they would be in the dollar, not in something like Libra that has been proposed by Facebook."

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