Lindsey Graham Rapid-Fire Questions Howard Lutnick About Immediate Effects Of Tariffs

Forbes Breaking News

At today's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) questioned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Transcript

00:00Senator Graham. Howdy. Nice to see you. All right. We're going to do this real quick.

00:08President Trump's decided that whatever you charge us in tariffs, we're going to charge you.

00:14Has he decided that? To a point. Yeah. Okay. To a point. All right. Well, that's more of the point.

00:20You can't use my bank account if I can use yours. If mine is a hundred times bigger than yours,

00:25that's not fair. Reciprocity. Logical reciprocity for sure. Okay. Well, that makes sense to me.

00:32Whatever you do to us, we're going to do to you and we'll reach out. Maybe we'll go to zero. That'd

00:36be great. But the idea of pushing back against people who have higher tariffs than we do makes

00:43sense. I'm glad you're doing it. And that's what you're doing, right? Of course. Okay. I'm also

00:49glad you're using tariffs to change people's behavior. Like if you're going to flood, let

00:55your country be a dumping ground from fentanyl, maybe we should tariff your stuff. Does that

01:01make sense? Yes. Well, it does. You know, to the world out there, if you want people to

01:07change, make it in their interest to change. Pat them on the back or kick them in the ass.

01:12I don't care what works. So in Mexico, these labs are out in the opening. They're killing

01:20more Americans, 3,000 a week. We're going to do something about it under Trump. And if

01:25you don't want to get tariffs, change your behavior. Well said. If you manipulate your

01:29currency as an unfair trade practice, you're going to get tariffed, right? Well said. If

01:35you close like agricultural markets in France, you're going to get tariffed. Well said. If

01:43you require a business partner, Chinese business partner to American company in China, then that's

01:51no longer acceptable. It'll just cost money. Cost money and they can cheat and steal our stuff.

01:58They do. So these tariffs have a purpose to make us safer and stronger. And we've been

02:05talking about China. We've been talking about getting ripped off. I want to thank you and

02:10President Trump for doing something about it. Is it fair to say there are a lot of people

02:17who would like to talk to you about new trade deals? That is definitely true. I can tell you

02:22the major car companies in Germany came over here and met with the president. Are you aware

02:26of that? I was in the room. They make BMWs in South Carolina, Volvo. They make Mercedes in

02:34Alabama. And they talked to you about making more of the car in America, didn't they? Oh,

02:39they offered almost a hundred billion dollars in investment in America. So thank you to those

02:43car companies. Absolutely right. The American dream is to own a German car. As long as it's

02:50made in South Carolina, that sounds fine to me. I own one. Bubba makes wheels, BMW. So what you've

02:58done is you've got people to come here and talk to us differently. They're talking about making the

03:03engine now in South Carolina, right? That is correct. They're talking about more content in

03:08South Carolina. That is correct. And this export credit makes sense to me. 70% of the cars, 60%

03:15made in South Carolina are sold overseas. That helps our balance of trade. Do you agree with that?

03:19I agree. Okay. So this is working, folks. Some of the tariffs, maybe I'll have a problem with. But

03:27what you're doing, good. You're telling people, if you rip us off, you're going to pay a price.

03:33Stop poisoning America. Stop cheating. Stop closing your markets. Now, do you know that China

03:41and India buy 70% of oil from Russia? I do. Do you think it is helpful for China to buy cheap Russian

03:52oil to keep the Putin war machine going? Is that a good thing for China to be doing?

03:59It doesn't sound good to me. Good. I'm going to give you another example of how we can use tariffs.

04:06We want peace. We're not out to humiliate Putin, but we want to stop the killing. To China,

04:14you're propping up Putin's war machine. You're the largest purchaser of his cheap oil.

04:21You're providing component parts to his military. You want to be normal? Act normal. We have

04:27legislation in the Senate that would have put a 500, make you look weak, Howard, 500% tariff

04:34on any country that props up Putin's war machine. And we'll have a carve out for any country helping

04:42Ukraine. You're good to go. So China, if you want to avoid tariffs, help Ukraine. This is coming,

04:49Howard. We've had it with this war. I appreciate President Trump talking to Putin, sending Witkoff over,

04:58trying to make it a win-win. He ain't interested in peace. So the Senate is ready to roll. And to our

05:07friends in China, if you keep helping Putin and prop it up his war machine, we're going to hit you hard

05:14because you're destabilizing the world. You're putting our nation at risk. You're rewarding bad

05:20behavior. And we're going to extend the concept President Trump started. If you're screwing America

05:27America and you're making the world an unsafe place, we're coming after you. Thank you, Howard,

05:32for all you do. Thank you. Senator Van Hollen, we have votes at 1145, which is fast approaching.

05:42We'll have a second round of, as soon as Lindsay leaves, only the people in this room.

05:50Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Secretary. Thank you.

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