Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.
Speaker 2: I'm Kaylee Lines alongside Joe Matthew in Washington, and we
Speaker 2: want to go live to the north lawn of the
Speaker 2: White House now where we're joined in an exclusive conversation
Speaker 2: by the US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik. Mister Secretary, welcome
Speaker 2: back to Bloomberg TV and Radio. You, of course, just
Speaker 2: left the East Room where President Trump held this one big,
Speaker 2: beautiful event celebrating a bill that has yet to pass
Speaker 2: the Senate or repass the House. And obviously the parliamentarian
Speaker 2: and the Senate has thrown up some hurdles today. Is
Speaker 2: the parliamentarian making this effort harder, making it harder to
Speaker 2: meet the president's deadline of July fourth.
Speaker 3: I think reconciliation has a process, and we all respect
Speaker 3: the process. So I think they're just going through the
Speaker 3: way they do things in the Senate, and I think
Speaker 3: it's going to work out great for the president.
Speaker 4: Secretary, It's good to see it. Welcome to balance and
Speaker 4: power once again. Your thoughts on some of the complicatedtions
Speaker 4: that we're hearing about. Beyond the parliamentarian, we've got the
Speaker 4: Salt Caucus to satisfy. There are still questions about the
Speaker 4: level of cuts in the President's big, beautiful bill. Timeline
Speaker 4: is one thing, the final results is another. Here, when
Speaker 4: you consider what we just saw there in the East room,
Speaker 4: what is there to celebrate today?
Speaker 1: Well, I think today was motivational.
Speaker 3: You know, what we're doing is we're getting everybody together
Speaker 3: and saying, let's go, let's go pass this bill. Right,
Speaker 3: there's lots of people, as the President said, there's lots
Speaker 3: of people who are grand standards. A few people they
Speaker 3: want to make their point, they want to get their
Speaker 3: moment in the sun, you know, their big moment of fame.
Speaker 3: But in the end of the day, the Republican Party
Speaker 3: is behind Donald Trump.
Speaker 1: They're going to pass this bill.
Speaker 3: It'll be the largest tax cut in the history of
Speaker 3: the United States of America. Or imagine if they didn't
Speaker 3: pass it, it would be the largest tax increase. So
Speaker 3: who isn't going to back the largest tax cut in
Speaker 3: the history of no tax on tips, no tax on overtime,
Speaker 3: really delivering on his promises. So I think we're all
Speaker 3: really excited about what's coming, and it's coming in the
Speaker 3: next week or two.
Speaker 2: Well, when we consider who might not be super eager
Speaker 2: to vote on this package, mister Secretary, the aforementioned Joe
Speaker 2: Caucus that or Salt Caucus that Joe was just referring to,
Speaker 2: is still threatening basically not to support this measure. They
Speaker 2: found the first offer from the Treasury Department on some
Speaker 2: kind of compromise unsatisfactory. We understand there will be more
Speaker 2: meetings happening today, but are you, as a New Yorker
Speaker 2: going to have to get involved in this as well?
Speaker 2: You know how close to home this issue is for
Speaker 2: those members.
Speaker 3: Sure, but you know what's going to happen is these
Speaker 3: members and the senators they are talking, they're pounding it out,
Speaker 3: they're working it out, and I am confident they're going
Speaker 3: to reach a consensus and this.
Speaker 1: Bill is going to pass. You know, look, this is
Speaker 1: hard fought.
Speaker 3: It's one big, beautiful bill, which means.
Speaker 1: The keyword is big.
Speaker 3: All of the things that the President promised, and that's
Speaker 3: a huge amount of things to get accomplished.
Speaker 1: And I think we're feeling positive and we're feeling optimistic.
Speaker 3: And sure, is it a lot of work, Oh my gosh,
Speaker 3: it's a lot of work. Speaker Johnson and Senator Thuna
Speaker 3: doing a great job. And I think you're going to
Speaker 3: see this pass. It's hard work, but it's coming our way.
Speaker 4: Secretary, I'm really interested in exploring the relationship between the
Speaker 4: tax bill and tariffs, if you can maybe take us
Speaker 4: by the hand here, Does the tax bill only work
Speaker 4: when you have the revenue coming from tariffs? And we're
Speaker 4: of course having this conversation as we walk ever closer
Speaker 4: to July ninth, the deadline here for the reciprocals. If
Speaker 4: the bill alters anymore, does the tariff program need to
Speaker 4: change with it?
Speaker 1: Not at all.
Speaker 3: The tariff program is in the power of the presidency, right.
Speaker 3: Congress has given the president the power to work on
Speaker 3: these tariffs and to set these tariffs.
Speaker 1: So that's presidential power.
Speaker 3: So what's really interesting, This big, beautiful bill does not
Speaker 3: count the eighty eight billion dollars of tariff revenue we've received,
Speaker 3: and now we're earning.
Speaker 1: Up to thirty billion a month in.
Speaker 3: Tariff revenue so far, and as you get to July ninth,
Speaker 3: that number is only going to go higher.
Speaker 1: We're going to announce a.
Speaker 3: Whole bunch of deals over the next week or so,
Speaker 3: and then we're just going to send letters out to
Speaker 3: everybody who's responded to us put them in the right category.
Speaker 1: And awful go.
Speaker 3: So there's going to be tens of billions per month,
Speaker 3: and that it's not included in the bill.
Speaker 1: So when they talk about the deficit, when they're.
Speaker 3: Talking about the bill, they're only talking about the things
Speaker 3: that that bill touches. The extra four hundred or five
Speaker 3: hundred billion dollars a year that the tariffs bring in,
Speaker 3: the new tariffs bring in, that just doesn't count for
Speaker 3: the bill. But of course, of course that kash counts
Speaker 3: for America.
Speaker 2: Mister Secretary, you just said that you're going to announce
Speaker 2: a whole bunch of deals over the course of the
Speaker 2: next week with what countries, And does that include the
Speaker 2: China deal the President suggested was signed yesterday? What is that?
Speaker 1: So the China deal? We inked the deal.
Speaker 3: You remember, we had a trip to Geneva and then
Speaker 3: that was being slow played. We got back together in
Speaker 3: London and that deal was signed and sealed two days ago.
Speaker 3: President just said it just the other just you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know, fifteen minutes ago. And then he also
Speaker 3: suggested that we are, of course at the very close
Speaker 3: finish line with India. Of course, the way these deals
Speaker 3: happen is their prime minister and their parliament have to
Speaker 3: approve it. And the President likes to close these deals himself.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's the deal maker. He loves to close it.
Speaker 3: I think we have deal after deal after deal. The
Speaker 3: President's going to make his calls. He's going to decide
Speaker 3: exactly the finishing touches on them, and then what we're
Speaker 3: going to do is we're going to lay out a
Speaker 3: structure of all the different kinds of tariff arrangements with
Speaker 3: different countries. Right, there were countries with huge deficits, there
Speaker 3: are countries that are balanced. We're going to set that
Speaker 3: all up and get that ready for July ninth.
Speaker 4: So it sounds to me the Secretary correct me if
Speaker 4: I'm wrong as I listen to you, that we either
Speaker 4: get eighty eight deals announced in the next two weeks
Speaker 4: or there's going to be action one way or the
Speaker 4: other by this administration that July ninth will be conclusive.
Speaker 4: If there's no deal, here's the newer sick orders tariff.
Speaker 1: Is that right, of course? So what we're going to
Speaker 1: do is we'll announce some deals. But basically the deals we're.
Speaker 3: Going to announce are are sort of the head of
Speaker 3: the class, the structural spot in the line, and then
Speaker 3: all the other countries will fit behind those categories.
Speaker 1: Right, so we're going to do top.
Speaker 3: Ten deals, put them in the right category, and then
Speaker 3: these other countries will fit behind. So you'll have South
Speaker 3: American deals and you'll have African deals. You'll have it
Speaker 3: all structured and set up, and that's the model how
Speaker 3: you do leadership. And we will put these people in
Speaker 3: their proper buckets on July ninth, So those who have
Speaker 3: deals will have deals, and everybody else who's been negotiating
Speaker 3: with us, they'll get a response from US, and then
Speaker 3: they'll go into that package and.
Speaker 1: July ninth will go forward. And as the President said.
Speaker 3: If people want to come back and negotiate further, they're
Speaker 3: entitled to, but that tariff rate will be set and
Speaker 3: off will go.
Speaker 2: Where does Europe fall in that sequence, mister Secretary, There
Speaker 2: was reporting from Politico today that the European Commission has
Speaker 2: received the latest offer from the US. Are you expecting
Speaker 2: that offer to potentially be accepted by next week?
Speaker 1: I think that Europe has done an excellent job.
Speaker 3: They are working hard. They remember it was a very
Speaker 3: very slow process. If you remember and the President put
Speaker 3: out a truth.
Speaker 1: Kind of motivated them.
Speaker 3: With that truth, as Donald Trump is capable of doing,
Speaker 3: they came to the table, then they started negotiating.
Speaker 1: They really put it on the table. And I'm actually
Speaker 1: I've become optimistic.
Speaker 3: I think if you had asked me three weeks ago
Speaker 3: before that truth, I would have said no way. But
Speaker 3: since that truth by the President, I really feel I'm optimistic.
Speaker 3: I think we could get a deal done now Europe
Speaker 3: will be right at the end. But you got to
Speaker 3: remember there are largest trading partners. To the fact that
Speaker 3: they come at the very end make some sense. It's deep,
Speaker 3: it's complex, but I'm kind of optimistic now. I wasn't
Speaker 3: optimistic three weeks ago, but now, since the President got involved,
Speaker 3: I'm pretty optimistic.
Speaker 4: Actually, how about that fascinating secretary before you leave us?
Speaker 4: I just went to trump card dot gov says trump
Speaker 4: Card is coming. It's still on the way. When does
Speaker 4: this happen? How many will you sell when this is
Speaker 4: finally available? You've been saying that the phone's ringing off
Speaker 4: the hook. Here where are they coming from?
Speaker 1: All?
Speaker 3: Right? Our waiting list, right, and we've got a sort
Speaker 3: of a filtered waiting list where we go in and
Speaker 3: make sure the emails.
Speaker 1: Are correct, the people are correct.
Speaker 3: Seventy five thousand people online.
Speaker 1: At five million each. Right, we're talking just under four
Speaker 1: hundred billion dollars with the people online waiting for it
Speaker 1: to go live.
Speaker 3: So obviously our focus is the big beautiful bill, and
Speaker 3: once the big beautiful bill comes.
Speaker 1: Off, we're going to go with the Trump card.
Speaker 3: And I'm really really excited for our objectives.
Speaker 1: That has two things. Both it'll bring in hundreds of
Speaker 1: billions of.
Speaker 3: Dollars to reduce the deficit of the United States of America,
Speaker 3: and it brings in great entrepreneurs into America and they'll
Speaker 3: build our economy.
Speaker 1: As well, So you get a double positive from the
Speaker 1: Trump cart.
Speaker 4: Howard Lutnik, US Commerce Secretary, on the north lawn of
Speaker 4: the White House, where it's well in excess of ninety
Speaker 4: degrees today. We appreciate your insights, Secretary,