“The economic boom for the next 18 months is going to be extraordinary,” Mnuchin told Steve Linde, editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Report.
money(credit: INGIMAGE)
“I worry about inflation in the US and inflation around the world. Obviously we have to normalize interest rates, but there’s been tremendous business innovation, it’s one of the few good things that came out of COVID,” Mnuchin said.
He reflected on the extraordinary experience of sitting as head of the US Treasury during the onset of the COVID-19 crisis.
“Anyone who has ever run a business never thought the downside was zero revenue,” he said.
He recalled how the US had spent nearly $4 trillion to help the economy. In doing so, he speculates that the former Trump administration, which he served in, had prevented a global depression.
Mnuchin also considered the Abrahamic Agreement brokered by former US President Donald Trump, under whose auspices Israel normalized relations with four Arab countries; United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
The economic partnership was an important foundation for those agreements, he said, adding that he expected Saudi Arabia to join the deal.
Mnuchin said the agreements stemmed from the Trump administration’s relationship with countries in the region.
Mnuchin said, “The distinctive component of my relationship was fighting terrorist activities. We created a terrorist financing target center in the region, in which several Gulf countries participated.”
“Every time I came to America I came to Israel. There is no better partner than Israel to help us deal with terrorist activities around the world,” Mnuchin explained.