US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Talks Trump Tariffs, Trade Relations, China
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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So here's the latest this morning. The President of the United States, Donald Trump, cancelling European tariffs that were set to begin February 1st after reaching a framework deal over Greenland. The U.S. Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, joins us now, making some waves at the World Economic Forum over the last couple of days.
What are President Trump's new tariffs and their implications?
Mr. Secretary, it's good to see you. Great to see you. Let's cut through the drama. Let's get to the big point, the elephant in the room. What happened at dinner time the other night? I've heard all kinds of stories, booing, Lagarde storming out the room. What happened, sir?
Oh, this is so silly. So at the end of the evening, they called on me. I just published an op-ed in the Financial Times. And so they called on me. I gave two, three minutes of my FT, which basically said that globalization, and the outsourcing of your industry to the lowest cost in the world had really left, had really harmed America, it had harmed Europe, and it had failed us, and that we need to reshore, need to take care of our own citizens. So that's basically the model. And when I was done with that two or three minutes, one person of the 200-odd people in the room booed, and I felt honored because it was Al Gore. You know what I mean? Alcor food. And I was like, really?
So Madame Magad wasn't throwing bread rolls at you from the bank. That wasn't happening.
No, I mean, I put it in the FT. I mean, I wasn't like trying to be quiet about it. I mean, I think that globalization, right, and the idea of global supply chains and finding the lowest cost, I mean, that is just not the way to take care of your auto workers, right, who are in Ohio and Michigan. And so we're bringing that back. So think about this, when we were done with, we started auto tariffs, we started working on it in March, and we finished in November.
How does Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick describe globalization's impact?
And we were done, the last day when we finished, General Motors and Ford stocks each went up 10%. General Motors ended the year up 60%. If I had told you on January 1st that General Motors was gonna be on 60%, you would all say, oh stop it. And how about this, on that same day, Sean Fain, who runs the United Auto Workers, called me and said, I can't believe I'm calling a Republican Secretary of Commerce to say, thank God for you and your administration. You're the first administration who's actually taking care of the auto workers of America. So think about that. You can, if you really think it through, you can take care of the company and the worker. You don't have to pick sides because we want union labor growth in America.
These are great jobs. Why wouldn't we want them in America? So that's why Donald Trump wins the union vote because he's actually pro these workers. He literally is pro these workers. It's not a political thing. It's these are great jobs for Americans. Let's go get more of them.
There's a lot of money set to come into the United States and big beds, a ton of FDI. We can get into that in just a moment. I just want to stay on G7 allies. This week's been quite a week. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, has said, basically accusing the US of trying to subordinate the Europeans. The Prime Minister of Canada, I'm sure you've heard his speech, Mark Carney, the other day, said this is not a transition, it's a rupture. How would you describe relations with those countries at the moment?
I think our relations are perfectly fine, right? I described the relationship with respect to the whole, when Greenland was going back and forth before we sort of settled it with a framework agreement, right? I called it a kerfuffle, right? It's basically like if you have an argument with your spouse, that's not real, you know, it's not a real one. It's like a small thing.
My spouse doesn't go out there and deliver a speech after that argument and say it's the end of the relationship.
Fair enough, but... You're right, and I think they overreacted, and it's proof that they overreacted, because a day or two later, there's a framework that makes sense, right?
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–0:22
2
What are President Trump's new tariffs and their implications?
0:22–1:53
3
How does Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick describe globalization's impact?
1:53–5:17
4
What does Lutnick say about the auto industry and tariffs?
5:17–10:25
5
How are U.S. relations with G7 allies currently characterized?
10:25–12:04
6
What recent tensions exist between the U.S. and European countries?
12:04–15:27
Speakers
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