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:
“You should be very optimistic and positive, because the president truthed it out, and I rely on the president.” @atrupar
pic.twitter.com/8RoQ5phf17— The Intellectualist (@highbrow_nobrow) May 23, 2025
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.
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
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) May 23, 2025