Odd Lots: Jim Millstein on the Massive Risks of any 'Mar-a-Lago Accord'
Odd Lots
Jim Millstein on the Massive Risks of any 'Mar-a-Lago Accord'
President Trump wants higher tariffs, and he also wants more industrial production in the United States. This we know. In the meantime, a coterie of economists and pundits have tried to assemble a larger intellectual architecture to explain the strategy in a coherent way. The story they tell is one where America gets paid by its allies for national security and access to American markets, while the US brings down its debt and deficits, and weakens the dollar so as to make US manufacturing more globally competitive. Whether Trump sees things this way, and whether it will actually work is an entirely separate question. On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Jim Millstein, co-chair of Guggenheim Securities, about what he sees as the massive risks underway with this line of thinking. During his time in government, he was closely involved with the conservatorship arrangement of the GSEs, so we also talk about the possibility of re-privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Mar 24, 2025