Howard Lutnick, the financier President Trump has picked to lead the Commerce Department, said he favored “across-the-board” tariffs and was grilled about his financial ties in a nomination hearing Wednesday.The New York Times reports that Howard Lutnick, a wealthy donor to President Trump, has been nominated to lead the Commerce Department. During his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Lutnick defended Mr. Trump’s plans to impose broad tariffs and stated that he would take a tough stance on technology sales to China.
If confirmed, Mr. Lutnick would oversee a wide range of government programs related to business promotion, technology, and science. He expressed his support for “across-the-board” tariffs that would affect entire countries rather than specific products, in order to balance out America’s trading relationships. He also noted that while he believed tariffs on China should be the highest, other countries such as Europe, Japan, and South Korea have also taken advantage of the United States in trade.
Mr. Lutnick emphasized the need for reciprocity and fair treatment for American farmers, ranchers, and fishers, stating that they are often “treated with disrespect around the world.” He believes that tariffs are a way to address this issue and create a more level playing field. However, many economists argue that tariffs can lead to inflation as they are often passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
When asked about China’s advancements in artificial intelligence, Mr. Lutnick stated that he would take a tough stance on the department’s oversight of technology sales to China and would support U.S. export controls with the threat of tariffs. He specifically mentioned the recent A.I. technology released by the Chinese start-up DeepSeek, which was built using Meta’s open platform and chips from the U.S. company Nvidia. Mr. Lutnick believes that the U.S. should stop aiding China in this way and stated that he will be “very strong” on this issue.
A spokesman for Meta clarified that there are reports that a variety of A.I. models were used to build DeepSeek’s model and that Meta’s open source A.I. platform, Llama, was not one of them.
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