Hassett Teases 'Big' Housing Announcement From Trump

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett says President Donald Trump will be making a “big” housing announcement soon as part of a “really ambitious” economic agenda. Hassett also says nothing has been finalized on who will replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Hassett speaks to Bloomberg's Annmarie Hordern at World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

After the speech, National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said a “big” housing announcement would be coming soon, part of a “really ambitious” economic agenda.

“I think you’ll see more of it in the State of the Union” speech next month, Hassett said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Davos.

Housing affordability has emerged as a critical voter concern ahead of the midterm elections in November, in which Republicans will be fighting to keep control of Congress. While Trump has previously floated many of his proposals, including directing government-administered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds and capping credit card rates at 10%, the setting at Davos offered him a chance to burnish his populist credentials for voters back home before an audience consisting of the global elite.

Trump acknowledged the impact his affordability plans would have on Wall Street banks and institutional investment firms even as he said he’d ask Congress to make the ban on institutional investors permanent and seek a law capping credit card rates at 10% for a year.

“Many of you are here. Many of you are good friends of mine. Many of you are supporters. Sorry to do this,” Trump said. “I’m so sorry, but you’ve driven up housing prices by purchasing hundreds of single family homes.”

But, he added, “homes are built for people, not for corporations. And America will not become a nation of renters. We’re not going to do that.” At the same time, he said he was wary of taking steps that would wipe out the wealth Americans who already own homes have accumulated as a result of rising housing prices.

Addressing his plan for credit card rates — a move JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon told Davos would spell “economic disaster” for the US — Trump said surging credit card debt was one of the “biggest barriers to saving for a down payment.”

“This will help millions of Americans save for a home. They have no idea they’re paying 28%; they go out there a little late in their payment, and they end up losing their house,” Trump said.

President Donald Trump said that the US would not “become a nation of renters,” touting a handful of measures his administration is taking to address affordability concerns during a speech in Switzerland that largely focused on his interest in acquiring Greenland.

“Home ownership has always been a symbol of health and vigor of American society but that goal fell out of reach for millions and millions of people in the Biden era because interest rates went up so high,” Trump said Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

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