Trump says lower interest rates key to economy, also insists US now has ‘strong background checks’ for guns

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says his administration is a looking at tax cut proposals but not as a response to a potential recession. He says, “I’m looking at that all the time anyway.” Trump talked about the economy and trade with China during a meeting Tuesday in the Oval Office with the president of Romania.

Trump says his administration is looking at a cut in the capital gains tax when investors sell assets. It is also exploring lower payroll taxes.

But mostly, Trump is pressuring the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. He says, “They have to do a rate cut.”

Trump says the word recession is “inappropriate” and if the Fed would do its job, “you would see a burst of growth like you’ve never seen before.”

As for guns, Trump is insisting the U.S. already has “very, very strong background checks” for gun purchases and is noting many of his supporters “are strong believers in the Second Amendment,” in another sign he is backing away from supporting expanded checks.

Trump had said in the wake of shooting massacres in Texas and Ohio that he was looking to implement “very meaningful background checks” and that he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell very much wanted to “do something.”

But Trump said Tuesday that while the current system has “sort of missing areas and areas that don’t complete the whole circle,” the system is overall “very, very strong.”

He says he worries about the potential for a “slippery slope” where “all of a sudden everything gets taken away.”