Trump on balancing the budget: 'we have a real shot'

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that during his second term, there is a real opportunity to balance the budget, a lofty goal that has eluded four presidents, including Trump as 45th president. Between bringing in an unprecedented $106 billion in tariff revenue thus far, shrinking the size of government thanks to the Supreme Court's rulings on federal layoffs, and continued rescission packages, he said, "I have a real shot." 

"We're taking in tremendous amounts of money. You saw that we had a $25 billion surplus last month. And the tariffs haven't really started by comparison to what they will be," Trump told Just The News, No Noise television show, in a wide-ranging interview that aired Wednesday night.

Trump noted that the majority of the current tariffs currently relate to automobiles, car parts, aluminum and steel, but that on August 1, the tariffs will extend to other foreign goods, accelerating tariff revenue that could contribute substantially to an alternative to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). "We could use the External Revenue Service, and we wouldn't even need the Internal Revenue Service. But the money is very substantial. It's hundreds of billions of dollars."

Estimates project around $300 billion in tariff revenue by the end of the year, and Trump indicated that a number of nations are reaching out to negotiate. "We're not going to be ripped off by every country in the world, both friend and foe, anymore, and they know that. And they're all calling, you know, I sent out letters," Trump said. 

There is a win-win opportunity that each of these nations represents. The letters that the Trump administration sent quantifies the rate at which their tariffs will rise by August 1. If that goes into effect, the Treasury brings in more revenue from foreign nations. If they do make a deal, that produces more favorable trade relations and brings down the cost of foreign goods, which directly benefits the American people and grows the economy. "That is the deal — a letter, I made deals. The best deals are the letters. You just send them out saying, congratulations, you're paying 25, 30, 40%, we have one at 50% and that's better than the deal, because any deal sort of comes down from there," Trump stated. 

When asked about what future trade deals look like for the African bloc, Trump explained that individual deals would be the way forward. "You have a lot of countries. Don't forget, we're talking about 15 majors, and then you start getting into the medium size." Looking at the global trade situation, he said, "You have 200 countries, right? So we're going to put out one number for the remaining close to 150 countries. We'll just put out one number, and it'll be probably 10 or 15%."

Fresh off the heels of a successful trade deal with the country of Indonesia, Trump predicted that India and the European Union could be on the horizon. On a deal with the United States' northern neighbors, he said a deal with Canada is "too soon to say."

In a moment of levity, Trump recalled comments Tuesday from Kenneth Langone, the co-founder of Home Depot, who just months ago called tariffs, "bullsh*t." In a course reversal Tuesday, Langone told CNBC's Squawk Box, "Look, let me tell you right now, I am sold on Trump. In fact, I’ll say this: I think he’s got a good shot at going down in history as one of our best presidents ever.”

“That is a real turnaround because you didn’t want to vote for him,” Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernan said. Langone responded, “I told you the reason. I want to tell you, I’m a believer. What I’m seeing happening is absolutely nothing short of a great thing.”