Full interview to air tomorrow, Thursday, April 14th on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" at 9am ET
Following is an excerpt from the CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with United States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and CNBC's Sara Eisen, which aired today, Wednesday, April 13th. All references must be sourced to CNBC.
The full interview will run during CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" (M-F, 9AM-11AM ET) tomorrow, Thursday, April 14th at 9am ET.
KELLY EVANS: TREASURY SECRETARY JACK LEW MEANWHILE JUST SITTING DOWN WITH OUR SARA EISEN. SARA JOINS US NOW WITH HIGHLIGHTS OF THAT CONVERSATION. HI, SARA.
SARA EISEN: HI, KELLY, GOOD TO SEE YOU. FINANCIAL LEADERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD ARE COMING TO D.C. FOR THE IMF WORLD BANK SPRING MEETING. SO I SAT DOWN WITH TREASURY SECRETARY JACK LEW JUST MOMENTS AGO TO TALK ABOUT THE U.S. LEADERSHIP IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY, BUT OF COURSE, WE ALSO HAD TO TALK ABOUT HIS LEADERSHIP AT TREASURY. THE RECENT CLAMPDOWN ON INVERSIONS KILLING THAT MORE THAN $150 BILLION DEAL BETWEEN PFIZER AND ALLERGAN. I ASKED HIM TO DEFEND – OR HE AT LEAST WENT ON TO DEFEND SOME OF THE COMPANY CRITICISM THAT IT CAME AS A SURPRISE, AN AGGRESSIVE AND TARGETED ONE. HERE'S SECRETARY LEW.
JACK LEW: I SAID SEVERAL YEARS AGO THE RIGHT WAY AND BEST WAY TO DO IT IS FOR LEGISLATION TO BE PASSED. IT WOULD DO SERIOUS COMPREHENSIVE BUSINESS TAX REFORM AND SHUT DOWN INVERSIONS ONCE AND FOR ALL. I ALSO SAID WE'LL USE WHATEVER ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY WE HAVE, AND IT'S A COMPLICATED MATTER BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE INFINITE FLEXIBILITY. WE HAVE WORKED AND WORKED ON IT. THIS IS THE THIRD ACTION WE HAVE TAKEN AND EACH TIME WE HAVE SLOWED DOWN THE PIPELINE AND EACH TIME I HAVE SAID CONGRESS NEEDS TO ACT BECAUSE WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT INVERSIONS ARE STOPPED. I THINK THAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN NO SURPRISE TO ANYONE THAT WE WERE WORKING ON THIS BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN WORKING ON IT FOR A LONG TIME.
EISEN: WE TALKED A LOT MORE ABOUT THIS INVERSION ISSUE. WE ALSO TALKED ABOUT CURRENT LEGISLATION THAT IS BEGIN DISCUSSED ON CONGRESS RIGHT NOW, ABOUT WHAT TO DO WITH PUERTO RICO'S DEBTS. WE TALKED ABOUT THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AND OF COURSE, THIS IDEA OF THE IMF TAKING ON A GREATER ROLE FOR EXCHANGE RATES AND OTHER ISSUES RIGHT NOW. YOU CAN CATCH ALL OF THAT IN OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TOMORROW, "SQUAWK ON THE STREET", 9:00 A.M. EASTERN TIME.
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