Kudlow Doesn’t See Significant Barriers for Small Business Loans

(Bloomberg) -- White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he doesn’t see any barriers to the biggest American banks delivering loans to small businesses starting immediately and that there’s a “gigantic” list of banks involved in the process.

“They are ready to go,” Kudlow said Friday in a Bloomberg Television interview, adding that leading bankers were talking to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin right up until the deadline yesterday. “I don’t see any barriers and roadblocks,” he said, though allowed that “there may be some small glitches.”

President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser spoke just after Labor Department data showed payrolls fell 701,000 last month in the first decline since 2010.

Separately Kudlow said the Trump administration never looked in any serious way at rolling back tariffs. “There is no tariff pullback right now,” Kudlow says, adding “individual cases can be examined.” Pulling tariffs would send the wrong signal on trade policy, and agreements made before the pandemic should be maintained, he said.

“I would not expect to see any movement on tariffs right now,” he said.

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