Trump threatens to cut GM subsidies over planned layoffs

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Trump threatens to cut GM subsidies over planned layoffs

Automotive giant General Motors draws the president's ire; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Stars.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report with Bret Baier," November 27, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHUCK SCHUMER, D-N.Y.: Last year the Republicans handed GM a windfall of $150 million in their tax bill. GM could bring back money from overseas. they said they would do it and employ people.  They are bringing back money from overseas but they're not employing people.

LARRY KUDLOW, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: It seems like GM would rather build its electric cars in China rather than in the United States.  We are going to be looking at certain subsidies regarding electric cars and others, whether they should apply or not.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR: As that was going on at the White House, that very press briefing, the president was tweeting about General Motors, saying this, "Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan, and Maryland. Nothing being closed in Mexico and China. The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the thanks we get! We are now looking at cutting all GM subsidies including for electric cars.  General Motors made a big China bet years ago while they built plants there and in Mexico. Don't think that bet is going to pay off. I am here to protect America's workers."

If you look at General Motors stock, it took a tumble today just as that tweet was coming out. It recovered a bit later in the day. Just a few minutes ago "The Washington Post" released part of an interview it did in which the president says about not being worried about a recession, "I'm doing deals and I'm not being accommodated by the Fed. They're making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else's brain can ever tell me."

He really goes in this interview against a Federal Reserve chairman, Jay Powell. He says "So far I'm not even a little bit happy with my selection of Jay, not even a little bit. I'm not blaming anybody, but I'm just telling I think the Fed is way off base with what they are doing."

Well, let's bring in our panel: Jonah Goldberg, senior editor at National Review; Mara Liasson, national political correspondent for National Public Radio, and Katie Pavlich, news editor at Townhall.com. Mara, there are a lot of things the president does, tweets, says that obviously don't track with where other presidents go. Attacking his Fed chair has been one of those.

MARA LIASSON, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO:  Many presidents are frustrated by their Fed chair. Whether they do something about it is another matter. So this is the most frustrated he's been so far with Jay Powell. He wants easy money. He doesn't want interest rates to go up. He doesn't want the recovery to end, and it sounds like that's what he's worried about.

BAIER: Does he have a case to make that the Fed is acting too fast on that?

LIASSON: That is way above my pay grade. I think there are some people who think they are, but Jay Powell is trying to follow in the very careful footsteps of Janet Yellen and manage this so there is not inflation, which hasn't been a problem for a very long time because the Fed has gotten really good at that.

But in terms of yanking subsidies from General Motors, if you want to yank subsidies from everybody, that's one thing. But to punish General Motors by taking away just their subsidies, that sounds like crony capitalism in reverse, just the thing that Republicans and conservatives are supposed to hate more than anything else.

BAIER: Again, not a traditional action by a president going after or mentioning specific companies in this action in this way. Yet, again, does he have a point about U.S. subsidies for a company that's choosing to close plants in the U.S. and not close them in China and Mexico?

KATIE PAVLICH, TOWNHALL.COM: President Trump's tweet today gave me flashbacks of 2008 when he talks about the American people have given GM and other companies a lot. And that goes back to the argument that we should never have bailed out those companies in the first place. They should've have hit rock bottom and come back on their own instead of being propped up for years and continuing to sell cars that people don't want to buy, which is part of their problem here.

It is inappropriate for the federal government to go after any single company for not doing what they want specifically, but there is a huge case to be made generally about how certain subsidies have been given to electric car makers for cars that people aren't buying. So we can make the argument that we shouldn't have bailed out GM in the first place. That is coming home to roost now in a way that conservatives and Republicans and other economic factors predicted back when this happened, and here we are moving forward with these jobs going away in the U.S. which is something that President Trump obviously doesn't like because he campaigned on keeping them here.

BAIER: The GM vehicles being discontinued, the president singled out the Chevy Cruze, but there are others. And the plants being shut down, big ones in Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, actually two in Michigan, but you can't take the politics out of any of this, Jonah. They are looking at Ohio saying, wait a second, Ohio?

JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW: Look, it's politically embarrassing for the president who has been bragging about these plants coming back. I think he said it at a rally last night. I agree entirely with Katie about this, though. The reason why GM is closing these specific plants is because people aren't buying the specific cars being sold in those plants. And they are following in the footsteps of Ford. A lot of these guys are getting out of the passenger car market and going into the light truck market.

And I didn't think Barack Obama knew enough how to manage a huge economy from the White House, I don't know that Donald Trump's instinct are any better. I'm one of these Friedrich Hayek guys. I think the market is supposed to work this stuff out. These guys are making business decisions closest to the ground where they know how to make them. I'm all for getting rid of these electric subsidies --

LIASSON: For everybody.

GOLDBERG: For everybody. But to do it as a punitive thing I think is a really bad idea.

BAIER: At the same time the market went up today in part because of hopes that some deal with China could be worked out. Here's Larry Kudlow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KUDLOW: There is a good possibility that we could make a deal. And he is open to it. But on the other hand, if these conditions I mentioned a few moments ago are not met and not dealt with, the president has said, look, he's perfectly happy to stand on his tariff policies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: So you're saying there's a chance? Mara, he's going to meet --

LIASSON: Larry Kudlow is a very optimistic guy.

BAIER: He's going to meet with President Xi on the sidelines of the G20 in Argentina.

LIASSON: That's right.

BAIER: Talking to administration officials, they do think that China wants to make a deal.

LIASSON: Yes, China wants to make a deal. But what the U.S. is asking China to do is almost to give up its business model. They don't want any more forced technology transfers, they don't want intellectual property theft, they don't want nontariff barriers. That's the Chinese business model. China would have to make a deep structural changes to satisfy the U.S.

BAIER: Finally, I want to turn to one more topic, and this is the Paul Manafort topic. He's being accused of lying to special counsel. The plea deal is up in the air as far as they are saying he's totally undermined it by lying. Then there is this story, Katie, in "The Guardian" saying that Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks, suggesting that he had some previous knowledge, prior knowledge before these emails came out.

Manafort puts out a statement through his team, "This story is totally false and deliberately libelous. I've never met with Julian Assange or anyone connected to him. I've never been contacted by anyone connected to WikiLeaks either directly or indirectly. I've never reached out to Assange or WikiLeaks on any matter. We are considering all legal options against "The Guardian," who did the story, "who proceeded with this story even after being notified by my representatives that it is false." You can't get a more stringent denial than that.

PAVLICH: Wikileaks, which doesn't have a ton of credibility when it comes to telling the truth, but they also issued a similar denial. And "The Guardian" walked back some of the more strict language in that story, putting in words like "apparently" and not exactly following through with it being a solid allegation that had some backing. The truth is we're not going to know until Robert Mueller comes out with his full report about what the exact connections were. But Paul Manafort has a right to defend himself against these accusations, especially since they are very serious and they have to do with his plea deal.

LIASSON: We're talking about somebody walking into an embassy. There are cameras everywhere. You think if he was there they could prove that.

BAIER: They should be able to. And --

LIASSON: London is filled with cameras.

GOLDBERG: Also one of the most monitored doorways in the western world. I generally think that Paul Manafort is a really duplicitous, terrible person.

BAIER: And he could be in a lot of trouble.

GOLDBERG: And he's in big trouble, and I don't trust WikiLeaks or Julian Assange either. But the idea that there aren't multiple intelligence agencies monitoring that door at all times to see if Julian Assange is coming out with a fake mustache and a trench coat is kind of ludicrous.

PAVLICH: And photos involved with the story would have seemed as an accompaniment to prove with the story is saying.

BAIER: We are still on Mueller watch, and we'll see what happens, and it could be any day after this election in Mississippi. One would think between now and Christmas something is happening.

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