Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick vehemently denied that the Trump administration aims to “weaken the dollar” through the newly announced tariffs, arguing that they will instead stop other countries from manipulating the dollar’s value.
Lutnick discussed the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs on CNN Thursday, saying that the president was telling other countries to “stop manipulating the currency” of the United States. He added that doing this would result in the dollar becoming “cheaper” but also allow the U.S. to export goods more easily.
When Lutnick was pressed about whether weakening the dollar was part of the Trump administration’s strategy, the secretary said that the dollar’s value was “bolstered up” by global economies “because they were faking it.”
Host Pamela Brown then claimed that the administration’s strategy seemed to be to weaken the dollar. Lutnick replied that the administration’s plan is not about the dollar but instead about U.S. workers and factories.
“And these are all outcomes of — stop manipulating your, stop your manipulating our currency. Stop it!” Lutnick said on The Situation Room. “And if that means the dollar goes back to where it should be because you‘ve stopped manipulating it, it makes sense to me.”
The secretary also argued that the U.S. is “the sumo wrestler of this world” and that any country that wants to fight back against the U.S. in the free market is “going to lose.”
ALLIES SEE SIGNS TRUMP TARIFFS FORCING OTHERS TO LOWER TRADE BARRIERS
Lutnick has been making the rounds to discuss the administration’s tariffs. He said Wednesday night that the tariffs inform the world that they either need to buy U.S. products or not bother bringing their products to the U.S. “unless you’re paying for the right to come.” Lutnick also celebrated how these tariffs will bring back “tradecraft” jobs to the U.S.
The 25% tariffs on auto imports also went into effect on Wednesday, with automaker Stellantis pausing its production at some of its plants in Canada and Mexico ahead of time. The pause also led to 900 temporary layoffs of U.S. workers.