May 11 (UPI) — U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Sunday that the administration of President Donald Trump would keep the 10% baseline tariffs on global imports for the “foreseeable future.”
“We do expect a 10 percent baseline tariff to be in place for the foreseeable future,” Lutnick told CNN’s Dana Bash during an interview on “State of the Union.”
Bash interviewed Lutnick as the second day of trade talks between the United States and China was happening in Geneva, which Trump said Saturday marked a “total reset” in relations.
“The team is in Switzerland meeting with their counterparts from China, and they are hard at it. There’s a lot to accomplish,” Lutnick said of the negotiations. “There’s both a lot to take care of and get off the table, and they’re working hard at it. At the end of the day, they felt good, the president felt good, and I’m going to leave it to them.”
Lutnick noted the success of the Trump administration’s negotiations with Britain, which finalized a long-in-the-works trade deal with the United States. When asked whether the framework of that deal, with Britain keeping 10% tariffs, would be expected to continue, Lutnick said the U.S. will not be negotiating lower than 10% for any country.
“The Chinese and our representatives are meeting now. So, let’s just leave what’s possible with China to what happens on Monday, Tuesday, and next week,” Lutnick said.
“But the rest of the world is open for business, right? Remember, we have a low tariff on the rest of the world while we negotiate. But our expectation is that these countries are going to open their markets, their tariffs are going to come down, the ability for us to export and grow our economy is going to be better than ever before.”
Bash also asked Lutnick about remarks from Trump last week that the decline of imports caused by his tariffs is a good thing for Americans. Lutnick insisted that Americans “are the consumers of the world” and so imports would continue.
“Don’t buy the silly arguments that the U.S. consumer pays,” he said. “Businesses, their job is to try to sell to the American consumer. And domestically produced products are not going to have that tariff. So, the foreigners are going to finally have to compete.”