The next is the transcript of an interview with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on April 6, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Secretary, welcome to “Face the Nation.”
COMMERCE SECRETARY HOWARD LUTNICK: Nice to be right here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We see about 60% of Individuals have cash within the inventory market, which imply that retirees may very well be simply as involved as hedge fund managers this morning. Did you count on this stage of shock within the monetary markets?
SEC. LUTNICK: Properly, you have to notice it is a nationwide safety difficulty. I imply, we do not make drugs on this nation anymore. We do not make ships. We do not have sufficient metal and aluminum to battle a battle, proper? All our semiconductors are made abroad. So each button we press after we attempt to begin our automotive and even use our microwave, these are all semiconductors. They’re all made elsewhere. We have got to begin to shield ourselves, and we have to cease having all of the nations of the world ripping us off. We have now a $1.2 trillion commerce deficit, and the remainder of the world has a surplus with us. They’re incomes our cash. They’re taking our cash, and Donald Trump has seen this, and he’ll cease it. So it’s going to be a giant change. In fact, it’ll be a giant change, however the remainder of the world has been ripping us off for all these a few years. Donald Trump has seen it. He is spoken about it–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –I perceive that and–
SEC. LUTNICK: –and he is simply not going to take it anymore. And that is his mannequin.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And that was abundantly clear throughout the presidential marketing campaign, how a lot the president actually believes in tariffs and placing them on the middle of his financial coverage, however you noticed absolute panic within the world markets. Did you count on that or had been you shocked?
SEC. LUTNICK: No, I believe the purpose is, it’s worthwhile to reset the ability of the US of America and reset it towards all our allies and our enemies alike. The- the concept all of the nations of the world can run commerce surpluses with America and purchase our issues with us– bear in mind, $1.2 trillion. in 1980 we had been a internet investor- which means we owned extra of the remainder of the world than they owned of us–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah, it is a completely different world now, it is a completely different market.
SEC. LUTNICK: And now- and now they personal 18- they personal $18 trillion of us, internet. So meaning the remainder of the- yearly after we run a $1.2 trillion deficit, the remainder of the world buys $1.2 trillion of America, and it goes up and up and up. And ultimately we’re not going to personal America, and we’re going to be owned by the remainder of the world.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you speaking about–
SEC. LUTNICK: Think about if we had a conflict and we will not construct a ship, we will not fly a airplane. We won’t construct our personal planes–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay–
SEC. LUTNICK: –we do not have our personal semiconductors. That is what the President is right here to repair for America. It is- he- in his palms, and he desires to repair America. That is his chance–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Understood. So–
SEC. LUTNICK: –to repair America, and we want him to repair it for our youngsters and our grandchildren.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, however for- for companies to do what you are doing, as a result of what I hear you laying out there’s a plan to re-industrialize the US and to convey corporations again to America. For a CEO to decide on to invest–
SEC. LUTNICK: Properly stated. Properly stated.
MARGARET BRENNAN: –but for a CEO to make these decisions- you understand this- they want certainty. They should know if it prices them extra to remain abroad, or if it prices them extra to maneuver right here. So are you able to give them readability, in order that they do not simply lower jobs as a result of they’re coping with the price of these tariff- tariffs. Are you able to inform them how lengthy they’re staying in place?
SEC. LUTNICK: Completely. The US of America goes to guard the individuals who put money into America. Trillions and trillions of dollars- you heard the President discuss it- are coming to put money into America. That is the financial system of the world. We’re the buyer of the world, and firms have to construct it right here, and we are going to shield them for constructing it right here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, so–
SEC. LUTNICK: We are going to assist the American staff, sure. American staff are costlier, however they’re higher.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I obtained it–
SEC. LUTNICK: We’ll shield all of the factories that come to America, and that is what’s coming right here. So, the President is on it–
(CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, is the ten% tariff everlasting?
SEC. LUTNICK: He’ll shield them- properly, bear in mind, it is a nationwide safety issue–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –I obtained it. Is the ten% tariff everlasting?
SEC. LUTNICK: –and he wants to handle our funds deficit- that- the, you understand, the legal guidelines of America are the legal guidelines of America, he would love it to be that we have to shield the businesses that make investments right here, and we’re going to shield the businesses that make investments right here. That’s the coverage of the US of America. That is why trillions of {dollars} are coming right here. The rip off of the- of the US of America is over. All these corporations are going to come back and make investments right here. That is what they’re doing. That is why they’ve dedicated trillions of {dollars}. They know that is the economy–
MARGARET BRENNAN: – Okay, Mr. Secretary, though–
SEC. LUTNICK: –this is the place to go.
(END CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Secretary, the marketing campaign’s over. You gained. So I am asking what the plan is. So the treasury secretary stated on one other community, “we will maintain the course.” “It is not the sort of factor you possibly can negotiate away in days or perhaps weeks.” That makes it sound just like the tariffs are staying in place no less than for days or perhaps weeks. Is that appropriate? Or is the President contemplating suspending implementation to barter?
SEC. LUTNICK: There isn’t a suspending. They’re undoubtedly going to remain in place for days and weeks. That’s form of apparent. The president must reset world commerce. Everyone has a commerce surplus and we have now a commerce deficit. We’re paying away our future and our lives. Come- the nations of the world are ripping us off, and it is obtained to finish. The President has made it crystal, crystal clear. That is the coverage we will shield. The factories that come construct in America, we will shield them. They are going to achieve success. That is why they are going to construct in America, the best financial system within the earth. All of those corporations are going to come back and construct right here.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So when three of the President’s different financial advisers, who’re on different networks at this time, say that fifty completely different nations have been calling the White Home to attempt to discuss concerning the tariffs, what does that imply? As a result of that makes it sound like there’s a negotiation, which is completely different from saying the tariffs are everlasting.
SEC. LUTNICK: Properly, what it exhibits is that every one these nations know that they have been ripping us off, and the day has come for that to finish. Now the issue is, it isn’t simply tariffs- like, I will offer you an instance, like Vietnam stated they’d prefer to be zero-zero. Keep in mind, Vietnam sends us $120 billion value of products each year–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Sure, low cost manufacturing
SEC. LUTNICK: And we ship them about $12 billion- wait, we ship them $12 billion. So it isn’t the tariffs. It has nothing to do with tariffs. In the event that they went to zero-zero, they’d go to 200 billion with us. We have to cease the rip off, and zero-zero is- is the way–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –I do know however we do not have zero-zero, sir.
SEC. LUTNICK: –to make it extra of a rip off. We want–
MARGARET BRENNAN: We do not have zero-zero really, as a result of after we noticed the president stand within the Rose Backyard holding up that chart that you just helped make, that- that wasn’t really tariffs. That was really complicated to buyers, as a result of it was some sort of different formulation, and the nations themselves appeared sort of random. Like, why are the Heard and McDonald Islands, which do not export to the US and are fairly actually inhabited by penguins, why do they face a ten% tariff? Did you utilize AI to generate this?
SEC. LUTNICK: No. No, the idea- look, the thought is that there aren’t any nations left off.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Why are they on the checklist?
SEC. LUTNICK: As a result of the idea- what occurs is, should you go away something off the checklist, the nations that attempt to principally arbitrage America undergo these nations to us. Any country- like we had tariffs, the President put tariffs on China, proper, in 2018, after which what China began doing is that they began going by different nations to America. They only constructed by different nations, by America. And so, the President is aware of that, he is bored with it, and he’ll repair that. So principally he stated, look, I am unable to let any a part of the world be a spot the place China or different nations can ship by them–
MARGARET BRENNAN: By the Heard Islands.
SEC. LUTNICK: –so the top of these loopholes- these ridiculous loopholes. And now what he is attempting to say is, I will repair the commerce deficit of the US of America. It is a nationwide safety difficulty. We have to make drugs. We have to make semiconductors. We have to make ships. We have to have metal and aluminum. Come on, we want the greatness of America to really be in-built America. And he is bored with getting ripped off by the remainder of the world.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay, however simply to be clear, April 9, the so-called retaliatory tariffs- the reciprocal tariffs, I ought to say. Are these coming or are they open to negotiation?
SEC. LUTNICK: The tariffs are coming. He introduced it, and he wasn’t kidding. The tariffs are coming. In fact they’re.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Is the administration contemplating any sort of offset, any sort of subsidy? You talked about the primary administration, there was some bailout to farmers to assist them cope with the ache from Chinese language retaliation. Are you taking a look at that now?
SEC. LUTNICK: I am- not that I’ve- I’ve not participated in any conferences with respect to that. The nation is targeted on- you notice, trillions of {dollars} of factories are going to be in-built America. That is big GDP. The factories being in-built America are big GDP–
(BEGIN CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: That takes years–
SEC. LUTNICK: And that’s going to matter to us.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And also you stated that robots are going to fill these jobs. So these aren’t union employee jobs.
SEC. LUTNICK: No, it is actually automated jobs. It is automated factories- automated factories. However the secret’s, who’s going to construct the factories? Who’s going to function the factories? Who’s going to make them work? Nice American staff. , we’re going to replace–
MARGARET BRENNAN: You stated robots on different networks. You stated that to FOX.
SEC. LUTNICK: –the armies of thousands and thousands of people- properly, bear in mind, the military of thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of human beings screwing in little- little screws to make iPhones, that sort of factor goes to come back to America. It will be automated and nice Individuals- the tradecraft of America, goes to repair them, goes to work on them. They’ll be mechanics. There’s going to be HVAC specialists. There’s going to be electricians, the tradecraft of America. Our highschool educated Individuals- the core to our workforce, goes to have the best resurgence of jobs within the historical past of America to work on these high-tech factories, that are all coming to America. That is what is going on to construct our subsequent technology of America.
(END CROSSTALK)
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you involved, within the time it would take for a corporation to maneuver to America, that it’ll profit China in the- within the speedy time period, that different markets will look to different suppliers as an alternative of coping with the US?
SEC. LUTNICK: That’s ridiculous. The issue is, everybody on this planet sells to us. Our financial system is the buyer of the world. We’re the one one with a commerce deficit. The remainder of the world has a commerce surplus. Why does Europe have a commerce surplus? Is there one thing about Europe that is particular? Critically, are they a special world than we’re? Why are they promoting 200 billion a year–
MARGARET BRENNAN: Oh, Mr. Secretary.
SEC. LUTNICK: –more to us. It is as a result of it isn’t truthful. The foundations are made not truthful, and President Trump goes to repair them, and he is doing it for America, and he is doing it on your kids and mine and our grandchildren. That is the second that the US of America takes maintain of itself, and Donald Trump’s been speaking about this his complete life. That is Donald Trump’s agenda, and we’re all right here to assist him execute it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we are going to take him at his phrase, fairly actually. Thanks, Mr. Secretary, on your time this morning. “Face the Nation” can be again in a minute. Stick with us.
