Commerce Secretary Lutnick Says the Darndest Things
A refusal to consider the inflationary effects of tariffs shows he is out of touch with American businesses.
Business owners would like a word.
Photographer: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg
When the President of the United States is a fabulist extraordinaire, the hope is that at least the administration’s cabinet members would be grounded in reality. Howard Lutnick’s recent defense of tariffs suggests otherwise.
As secretary of commerce, whose job is to “foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States,” one would expect Lutnick to be attuned to the needs and concerns of the business community. But this week showed just how out of touch he is with corporate America, a constituency that has become visibly nervous about the administration’s dubious approach to commerce faster than anyone could have forecast. Take this exchange with CNBC’s Joe Kernan on Tuesday: