neil bradley, welcome to the programme. i think it's fair to say the american consumer has been a bit of a bright spot in the global economy the last couple of years. and i wonder, we've got, you know, a returning resident of the white house — what does he need to do? what does the us need to do to keep those consumers as that global bright spot? yeah, you're exactly right. american consumers have been a big, bright spot. that's largely been supported by growing wages in the us economy that have allowed families to kind of keep up with levels of consumption. the things that the new administration needs to be worried about is a return to inflation. trade is particularly top of that list, but here in the united states, workforce is also incredibly important to making sure that we can maintain the supply and demand balance that we need to support a growing economy. yeah, i want to talk about that inflation issue, though. it's what, 2. 9%? the target of course is 2%. it's still some way off that. and the reason it gets interest

for more, let's bring in neil bradley at the u.s. chamber of commerce. good morning. >> good morning. great to be with you. >> neil, i don't know if you saw the developments with the quote/unquote secret talks. the dispute is automation and semi automation at the ports. do you have a view? >> it is needed. we are talking about basic technology. the basic technology we need to efficiently and safely operate a modern port. you know, we pride ourselves in the united states of having the best infrastructure and best businesses in the world, but we don't have a single port that's in the top 50 in global ports in terms of operations because the leadership of unions like the ila keep opposing the introduction of basic technology into port operations. if you care about the price of goods, if you care about global trade, this is an important fight that's going on right now. it's really important that we have the flexibility to modernize our ports. >> i want to be clear, neil. you are talking about prices for consumers. are you saying that is inflationary? >> absol

businesses of all sizes and my colleague ben thompson has been speaking to its head of policy neil bradleydone in isolation — what happens on regulatory policy, what happens on tax policy in the united states will also have an impact on the overall kind of cost of goods and services. but, listen, we're concerned at the us chamber about the broad application of tariffs and what that would mean for the us economy. they have a role in certain narrow circumstances, but broad applications would be harmful. what are your members telling you about where the opportunities and the risks are in this administration? what are they excited about? at the top of the list of what people are optimistic about, it's the deregulatory nature. listen, the last four years, there were $1.8 trillion in regulatory costs imposed on the us economy — that is historic in terms of size and scope — and so that rollback will kind of reanimate the animal spirits of the economy in a very positive way. i think we're also optimistic about where we're going on tax policy in the united states. those combined with what artificia