Billionaire Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appeared on Fox News on May 11 to address Americans most impacted by the 145% tariffs then planned on Chinese goods, a threat which has caused hundreds of dockworkers and truck drivers to lose their jobs.
Fox News quoted union leader Sal Di Contanza of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union as saying about the tariffs: “It’s beginning to manifest itself as a real loss of jobs and income from our members.”
When asked “what do you say to those American workers?” Lutnick replied: “This is just a China problem right now. We have a 145% tariff, they have a 125% tariff, those tariffs are too high to do business. But that’s why they’re talking right now. The rest of the world is 10%. So don’t overdo it. The rest of the world is 10%. They’re sending their goods here…Everybody wants to sell their goods here so they need to do business with America.”
Trump’s Commerce Secretary to dockworkers left unemployed by Trump’s tariffs:
— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) May 23, 2025
"You should be very optimistic and positive, because the president truthed it out, and I rely on the president." @atrupar
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Since then, President Trump has temporarily paused the 145% tariff on China, showing Lutnick’s assessment — that they are “too high to do business” — to be true.
But Lutnick’s advice to dockworkers and media watchers to not “overdo” it — because the tariffs on nations besides China weren’t as aggressive — turned out to be less comforting or lasting that the Secretary seemed to hope.
On Friday, two weeks after Lutnick’s appearance on Fox, Trump threatened to apply a 50% “straight tariff” on all of the European Union on June 1 — obliterating the “only 10%” idea that Lutnick presented as a salve to the unemployed workers. Trump also threatened a 25% tariff on iPhones that are not manufactured in the United States.
Even at that time Lutnick admitted he was going on faith, rather than data-based economic tariff forecasts: “The president is very optimistic and positive, so you should be very optimistic and positive because the President truthed it out, and I rely on the president.”
More than one on X asked, “What the hell is ‘truthed it out’ mean?”
BREAKING: President Trump just called for a 50% "straight tariff" on all of the EU, and a 25% tariff on iPhones that are not manufactured in the United States.
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) May 23, 2025
He's now attacking our biggest allies, and one of America's most successful companies, as the stock market tanks on… pic.twitter.com/ThYh8OxrjF
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