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NEC Director Kevin Hassett Gives Bullish Economy Outlook on CNBC's Squawk Pod

March 10, 2025 · CNBC Television · 0:40:00

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

CNBC’s Squawk Pod for March 10, 2025 compiled the morning’s Squawk Box, recorded six weeks into the administration as markets stumbled on trade-war fears, per the episode’s introduction. The episode frames the central question as which version of the economy President Trump wants — the President is heard in clips calling tariffs, as he put it, the greatest thing the country has ever done and a path to making the country rich again, according to the clips included. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is described in the episode as categorically ruling out a recession this year, as the hosts characterized his position.

The President’s chief economic adviser, NEC Director Kevin Hassett, joined the program with what the hosts called his own rosy take: there are a lot of reasons to be extremely bullish about the economy going forward, he said, while acknowledging that this quarter there are some blips in the data, including a negative GDP print, as he stated it in the excerpted interview. The episode also carried CNBC reporting on the President’s latest Washington comments and a segment with mezcal brand founders Erin and Abe Lichy on absorbing tariff-driven supply costs for Mexican imports, according to the episode’s contents.

Why it matters

The episode captures the administration’s economic message at the first tariff-driven market slide of the term — bullishness with acknowledged blips, from the NEC director, alongside the Commerce Secretary’s no-recession line — a baseline for the claims that followed.

Sources: CNBC Television, “Squawk Pod: Populism in DC, NEC director Kevin Hassett, & Rhony Mezcal - 03/10/25 | Audio Only”, 2025-03-10 (official upload, embedded above; published 2025-03-10). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.