During yesterday's Senate hearing on trade, Larry Kudlow wannabe Howard Lutnick's discussion on trade agreements and tariffs made him look more idiotic than even Senator Kennedy had realized.
The idea of reciprocity between trade partners eluded Trump's Commerce secretary, exposing his ignorance on the entire issue.
KENNEDY: If Vietnam, for example, came to you tomorrow and said, okay, Mr. Secretary, you win. We're going to remove all tariffs and all trade barriers.
Would the United States please do the same? Would you accept that deal?
LUTNICK: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That would be the silliest thing we could do.
KENNEDY: Why is that?
LUTNICK: Vietnam has $125 billion exports to us and imports from us $12.5 million. And you're thinking, Vietnam exports $125 billion?
KENNEDY: I'm aware of the figures, but tell me-
LUTNICK: But where do they get it from? They buy $90 billion from China, then they mark it up and send it to us. They're just a pathway of China to us.
KENNEDY: You wouldn't accept that deal?
LUTNICK: No, it's a terrible deal.
OMG. WTF is he talking about? Lutnick becomes really exposed as a moron when he can't even fathom what reciprocity is between trade partners. If Vietnam doesn't produce the goods themselves, then the deal is off? Lutnick is using tariffs with other countries to solely attack China. I think. Does Lutnick even know?
KENNEDY: What's the purpose of reciprocity then? Is reciprocity not one of your goals? Are you telling the president that we shouldn't seek reciprocity?
If that's what you're telling him, why are you trying to do these trade deals?
LUTNICK: What do we want? We want to encourage Vietnam to produce products.
They're great at producing-
KENNEDY: But I want to get back to reciprocity. You just said you don't believe, you don't accept reciprocity as a goal.
What are you negotiating in these trade deals?
LUTNICK: Why would we open our bank account and their bank account-
KENNEDY: Why are you negotiating trade deals?
You're trying to get other countries to lower their tariffs and trade barriers in return for us lowering ours.
LUTNICK: That's true for the things that they'll take from us.
KENNEDY: That's called reciprocity.
LUTNICK: Of course.
KENNEDY: So are you or are you not seeking reciprocity in these trade deals?
LUTNICK: We are thinking, we are absolutely seeking reciprocity with respect to things that can be reciprocal. But when they're importing from China and sending it to us, they're not.
KENNEDY: You just said that if a country came to you and offered you the ultimate reciprocity, no tariffs, no trade barriers in return for us doing the same, you would reject that.
I put this portion of the transcript up because it is so ridiculous.
With views like Lutnick's. no wonder our economy is on the verge of collapse and the American people are not happy with Trump's agenda.
