White House Disavows Yeutter Comments on Dollar

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that comments made in congressional testimony by Trade Representative Clayton Yeutter do not reflect the government’s position.

Yeutter was questioned about the dollar during testimony to the Senate Finance Committee.

Fitzwater said in a statement Yeutter’s comments were in response to a hypothetical question “and do not reflect the government’s position.”

“I want to emphasize that only the president and the secretray of the treasury are authorized to comment on the dollar,” the spokesman said.

Yeutter, asked whether the U.S. trade deficit would improve more if the value of the dollar dropped further, replied, “That should be a mathematical truism.” But he added that markets are more complicated than that.

He said he expected the current decline in the dollar to show up soon in the decline in the value of imports.