Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick argued that President Donald Trump is pursuing “national security” by utilizing tariffs on nations across the globe, stressing that the United States needs to produce its own goods.
Lutnick’s statement was given in response to whether or not the president has the constitutionality to impose tariffs. He said Trump “knows the law” and that Congress has passed laws to allow the president to “protect our national security.” He contended that the U.S. needs to make its own medicine, semiconductors, and other goods, arguing that those who disagree are “not thinking it through.”
“If we just run gigantic trade deficits and sell our soul to the rest of the world, eventually we are going to be the worker for the rest of the world,” Lutnick said on ABC News’s This Week. “We’re going to be the thinker for the rest of the world, but they’re going to manufacture, and if someday they say, ‘Gee, we’re not sending it to you,’ we’ll be nothing. So I think the president has national security in mind, and he’s here to protect America. We need to reshore these things, and we all know it.”
The commerce secretary also brushed off concerns about the uncertainty within the economy potentially weakening the U.S. dollar, claiming the Trump administration is focused on its tariffs and delivering “the best thing for the American people.” He added that “so many countries” are approaching the U.S. to negotiate about the tariffs.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) suggested on Sunday that senators “don’t have to wait for the courts to step in” and stop the president’s tariffs and that the Senate could use its own legislative authority. She has also forecasted a recession due to the tariffs, predicting that “prices will go up and people will lose their jobs” and leave others “never able to fully recover.”
Following the president’s delay to most of his tariffs, the Trump administration has exempted smartphones and various other electronics from these tariffs. Trump recently countered that those products are still facing a 20% tariff and are not to be considered exempt.
