Donald Trump told CNBC on Thursday he’s for low interest rates unless inflation perks up, and he would probably replace Janet Yellen when her term is up as Federal Reserve chair.
“I’m the king of debt,” but the national debt would be troublesome if rates increase, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee said in a wide-ranging phone interview with “Squawk Box.”
“If interest rates go up 1 percent, that’s devastating,” he added. “We should refinance longer-term debt.”
Trump also gave a 40 percent chance that he would choose his running mate from his former rivals in the race for the nomination.
WATCH: Filmmaker Reiner has serious words for Trump
Trump said he has a good relationship with John Kasich, but the Ohio governor is unlikely to become his VP choice.
Trump said he’s prefer to pick a running mate with government experience, because as a businessman he has business issues covered but he’d like help pushing legislation through.
As president, Trump repeated that he would renegotiate the nation’s trade agreements, which he contends were hammered out by political hacks not the best and brightest business minds.
He also said he’d get rid of a tremendous about of regulations.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton should be held legally responsible for using a private email sever during her time as secretary of state, Trump said.
But he claimed she’s being protected by the Democratic machine and is going to “skate away with it,” calling the process “disgraceful.”
Trump said he’d rather run against Clinton in the general election rather than against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders because she’s more beatable.
Trump said he looks forward to the general election debates. With three on the schedule, he said he wishes there were more.
Trump called Obamacare a “total disaster.” The Affordable Care Act needs to be repealed and replaced, he added.
Trump’s remaining two rivals — Kasich and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz — dropped out of the race this week after their poor showings Tuesday in Indiana’s primary.
Trump has amassed 1,055 delegates, 182 short of the 1,237 need to clinch the nomination at this summer’s convention.
There are a handful of contests in the run-up to June 7. That’s the final day when California and New Jersey are among five states holding primaries.
Looking ahead to the general election, Trump told The Wall Street Journal he won’t completely self-fund this next leg of his campaign. The reversal comes as he faces a tab of more than $1 billion to battle the eventual Democratic nominee.
The billionaire businessman largely paid for his primary run.
The Trump campaign plans to soon announce a finance director and a transition team, according to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, there are also questions about divisions in the upper echelons of Team Trump, the Times reports, with campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and newly installed senior advisor and veteran strategist Paul Manafort said to be butting heads.
This story originally appeared on CNBC.com
Matthew J. Belvedere