Donald Trump’s commerce secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday said that people should just let the president run the global economy because he knows what he has been doing. He’s been talking about it for 35 years, Lutnick said defending the Trump tariffs that led to a market meltdown hours after they were announced. President Trump imposed a base level 10% tariff across the countries extending up to 50%.
Lutnick’s comment was seen as absurd as the commerce secretary on CNN was also live fact-checked on his other claims that he made.
One of the masterminds behind the Trump tariffs, Lutnick confirmed that Trump is not going to back off on his proposed tariffs though there is a week before these tariffs come into force. “The president is not going to back off,” he said. Countries can fix their tariffs” and non-tariff trade barriers, which he said are “much, much rougher.” “America has got to stop being exploited… and then, and only then, will Donald Trump make a deal with each country,” he said.
“Let him fix it. I understand. It’s broken. Let him fix it. Our 36 trillion dollar deficit, right, is going to ruin our children’s lives and our grandchildren’s lives,” Lutnick said. “Let Donald Trump fix the American economy.”
This is a proven economic formula that works: White House
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NewsNation that the tariff won’t impact US workers and companies. “There’s not going to be any pain for American-owned companies and American workers, because their jobs are going to come back home,” Leavitt said.
“This is a proven economic formula that works, and the American people should trust in Trump. That’s why they elected him back to the White House,” Leavitt said.
Russia, North Korea, Cuba and Belarus have not been included in the list of the countries that would face reciprocal tariffs. White House said it was done because these four nations are already facing extremely high tariffs and US’ previously imposed sanctions preclude any meaningful trade with these countries.
China faces the highest tariff, 34 per cent, that will be imposed on top of a previously implemented 20 percent tariff for a total 54 percent tariff on goods. Other high numbers include 46 per cent on Vietnam, 32 per cent on Taiwan, 32 per cent on Indonesia and 49 per cent on Cambodia.
