Donald Trump's tax reform could be delayed thanks to defeated healthcare bill, says Steven Mnuchin

Late last month, President Trump's flagship healthcare bill was killed off after failing to secure enough support from Republicans

Steven Mnuchin said that the prospect of getting major tax reforms through Congress and signed off ahead of August was 'highly aggressive to not realistic at this point'

Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary has warned that a timetable for tax reform is likely to slip, after a series of setbacks in negotiations around healthcare.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Steven Mnuchin said that the prospect of getting major tax reforms through Congress and signed off ahead of August was "highly aggressive to not realistic at this point".

“It started as [an] aggressive timeline,” the former Goldman Sachs banker said, according to the paper. “It is fair to say it is probably delayed a bit because of the healthcare.”

He did, however, say that he still expects reforms to come into place before the end of the year.

Late last month, President Trump's flagship healthcare bill was killed off after failing to secure enough support from Republicans.

The defeat represented a major embarrassment for the US President during his first attempt at passing legislation through the House.

On the subject of President Trump’s latest comments on the dollar being too strong, Mr Mnuchin rejected the idea that the administration may be embarking on a new round of currency wars.

Mr Mnuchin reiterated that the US does not intervene in currency markets.

“The president was making a factual comment about the strength of the dollar in the short term [...] There’s a big difference between talk and action,” Mr Mnuchin said.

Last week Mr Trump sent the dollar to a five-month low after saying that the currency is getting "too strong" and that he would prefer for the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates capped.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the President said that the dollar’s strength was “partially” his fault “because people have confidence in me”, but he said that it was starting to hurt.

“Look, there’s some very good things about a strong dollar, but usually speaking the best thing about it is that it sounds good,” he told the paper.