cook: we are going to go to sam fleming from the "financial times." >> good morning. a couple of questions, if i may. one interpretation -- mr. cook: let's start with one just until we get around, and then have a followup, maybe. >> one interpretation being put on donald trump's comments about the dollar is that he no longer believes in a strong dollar policy and would move to a more competitive approach on currency. would that be the wrong path, and does that make it harder for you in your dialogue with other ministers when you have a presidential candidate making these kinds of comments? mr. lew: i speak for the administration based on the policy of this administration, echoing policies that have been consistent u.s. policies for quite a long time. you know, i think we have watched over the last couple of years where the u.s. economy's relative strength compared to other economies has led to a stronger dollar. the answer is for other economies to strengthen. it's for regions like europe, countries like china and japan to take the steps that they need to take to have

cook: we are going to go to sam fleming from the "financial times." >> good morning. a couple of questions, if i may. one interpretation -- mr. cook: let's start with one just until we get around, and then have a followup, maybe. ok. >> one interpretation being put on donald trump's comments about the dollar is that he no longer believes in a strong dollar policy and would move to a more competitive approach on currency. would that be the wrong path, and does that make it harder for you in your dialogue with other ministers when you have a presidential candidate making these kinds of comments? mr. lew: i speak for the administration based on the policy of this administration, echoing policies that have been consistent u.s. policies for quite a long time. you know, i think we have watched over the last couple years where the u.s. economy's relative strength compared to other economies has led to a stronger dollar. the answer is for other economies to strengthen. it's for regions like europe, countries like china and japan to take the steps that they need to take to hav

. >> we're going to go to sam fleming from the "financial times." >> good morning. couple of questions. >> let's start with one until we get around for a follow-up maybe. go ahead. >> one interpretation being put on donald trump's comments about the dollar is that he no longer believes in a strong dollar policy and he'd move to a more competitive approach on currency. would that be the wrong path? and does that make it harder for you in your dialogue with other ministers when you have a presidential candidate making these kinds of comments? >> i speak for the administration based on the policy of this administration echoing policies that have been consistent u.s. policies for quite a long time. you know, i think that we have watched over the last couple of years where the u.s. economy's relative strength compared to other economies has led to a stronger dollar. the answer is for other economies to strengthen. it's for regions like europe, countries like china and japan to take the steps they need to take to have their economies producing enough demand and enough eco

. >> sam fleming from "the financial times." >> thank you very much.ou were talking earlier as the u.s. is the bright spot, this success story among advance economies. clearly the story of this presidential election campaign not that american voters feel this is bright spot recovery. is there a risk that the administration is out of touch with the public mood about the u.s. economy at the moment? or are we overestimating just how negative people feel about the economy? >> first of all i don't know, you know, i look at evidence from the measures that economists look at about how people feel about the economy are the consumer sentiment index and consumer confidence index from the conference board and university of michigan. when you look at measures like that, you see that confidence has been consistently rising since the recession. and last year reached levels we hadn't seen in over a decade. so i see a number of ways people are positive both about their situation today and the outlook. we also certainly hear, and understand the frustrations people have