At a Senate hearing this week, President Trump’s billionaire U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was asked by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), “If Vietnam, for example, came to you tomorrow and said, ‘Okay, Mr. Secretary, you win. We’re gonna remove all tariffs and all trade barriers. Would the United States please do the same?’ Would you accept that deal?”
Lutnick replied: “Absolutely not. Absolutely not. That would be the silliest thing we could do.”
When asked why, Lutnick said “Vietnam has a $125 billion exports to us and imports from us $12.5 million.” He added, “They buy 90 billion from China, then they mark it up and send it to us.” Lutnick reiterated that he would not accept the hypothetical deal presented and said, “No, it’s a terrible deal.”
KENNEDY: If Vietnam came to you and said, ‘You win. We’re gonna remove all tariffs and all trade barriers. Would the US please do the same?” Would you accept that deal?
LUTNICK: Absolutely not. That would be the silliest thing we could do
KENNEDY: What’s the purpose of… pic.twitter.com/oR7B84MhZq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 4, 2025
Kennedy followed up and asked Lutnick, “Then what’s the point 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?”
Kennedy added, “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.” Lutnick replied, “Of course, because they buy from China and send it to us.”
Kennedy then asked, “Suppose if they said, ‘we won’t buy from China?’”
Lutnick replied: “Now we’re talking, now we’re talking.” Kennedy asked, “Would you accept that deal?” Lutnick said, “We would consider it, for what things?”
Lutnick used pharmaceuticals as an example of things “we don’t want other countries making,” saying, “We want to make pharmaceuticals here. We need to protect ourselves.”
Note: The Department of Commerce launched an investigation of the national security implications of pharmaceutical imports on April 1, according to a Federal Register notice.