Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed to the Daily Caller how he negotiated a massive trade deal with Japan on behalf of the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday via Truth Social that his administration had secured a trade deal with Japan, which included a $550 billion investment in the United States. Lutnick explained to Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Dylan Housman how he thought up the deal and negotiated with Japan for six months to secure the historic investment. (RELATED: Daily Caller To Host Manufacturing Event With Sec. Howard Lutnick)
“Japan was facing a 25% tariff, and their auto industry could not, of course, stay in Japan and sell cars to America at a 25% tariff. It just doesn’t work,” Lutnick began.
“The answer was, they offered us and, and this was my idea, and I worked on it for almost six months. In January, I pitched it to the President… this is the Japanese government saying to Donald Trump, ‘the Japanese will finance at their cost any project for national security or that’s important to Donald Trump in the United States of America,’” Lutnick continued.
As a part of the deal, Japan will pay 15% reciprocal tariffs to the U.S.. Lutnick told the Caller that the United States won’t pay any reciprocal tariffs as a result of the deal he negotiated.
Lutnick continued to explain what type of investments Japan might be funding, in the interest of the United States, as a result of the trade deal.
“For example, we don’t make generic pharmaceuticals. They’re all made primarily in China. Think about that for a second. Our antibiotics are made in China, Lutnick said.
“We tell the Japanese government, we want to build generic pharmaceuticals. Here’s the project. It’s $15 billion, they give us the $15 billion and we build generic pharmaceuticals here as provided by them. And then when that company operates and makes some money, we split the profits 90% for the American taxpayer and 10% for the Japanese,” Lutnick laid out to the Caller.
Howard Lutnick details historic trade deal with Japan at the Daily Caller’s Live event. [Photo Credit: Gregorio Veluz]
Lutnick continued to explain what else the money could be used to fund to help bolster the United States’ economic growth.
“We could build out the Alaska pipeline. We could do whatever we think is the right move for the United States of America,” he said, emphasizing that the United States will not pay any reciprocal tariffs but will lower its tariff on Japan.
“When I say it’s historic, what that means is it’s completely intellectually above anything anybody’s ever done before,” Lutnick added.
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