‘Come On!’ Trump’s Commerce Secretary Bristles When CBS Anchor Asks If Plug Could Be Pulled on Tariffs Amid Wall Street Bloodbath

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is taking umbrage with the idea that a plunging stock market could get President Donald Trump to reverse course on tariffs.

In an interview on CBS Mornings Thursday, host Tony Dokoupil confronted Lutnick about the impact of tariffs on consumers.

“Let’s just level with people,” Dokoupil said. “In the short term, every economist seems to think the prices will go up. Should people be prepared for that and for how long?”

“You have to sort of understand how things work,” Lutnick replied. “When tariffs come into place, foreign goods may become a little more expensive, but domestic goods do not. So if you’re looking at Poland Springs water versus something — let’s say, Fiji water — the Poland Springs is not going to be more expensive. So for the first time in your lives, you’re going to actually think about the Americans who make the products, the Americans who produce these products and work in these factories. It’s time for us to take care of them instead of taking care of the world. Our economic policy took care of the world and look where it led us. It led us to a 36 trillion-dollar deficit, which our children and our grandchildren are going to have to pay.”

Dokoupil went on to confront Lutnick about the plunging Dow futures (which, as of this writing, are down more than 1,200 points in pre-market trading), and quizzed Lutnick about whether a tanking market would trigger an about face.

“[Economists] think this is going to be trouble,” Dokoupil said. “Many investors also seem to think it’s going to trouble. We saw the markets crash overnight in the futures market. If the market here in the U.S. opens at 9 a.m. and things head south, is there a red line for you pulling back and saying, ‘OK, hold on, we’re going to rethink things?'”

Lutnick bristled at the notion that the plug would be pulled so quickly.

“No! I mean, come on!” Lutnick said. “The markets…When Donald Trump was the president last time, he put on tariffs. And if you go back and look at that news, everybody said, ‘Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!’ And the stock market, as you heard him say yesterday, up 88% during his presidency.

“So what you’ve got to realize is, sure, there’s going to be some short-term movement, but this is a reordering of global trade. It’s time for America to manufacture again. And I think these changes in the stock market, while they’re initial, long-term, you’ve got to assume, and medium-term and employment-based, you’re going to see America thrive. Interest rates are going to come down, as we said, and America is going to thrive.”

Watch above, via CBS.