Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Says No Chance Trump Backs Off On Global Tariffs

On Apr 4, 2025

As stocks continued to tumble in the wake of President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNN’s Pamela Brown there is little chance the administration reconsiders its already widely condemned trade policy.

“I don’t think there’s any chance they’re going to — that President Trump’s going to back off his tariffs. This is the reordering of global trade, right? That’s what’s going to happen,” Lutnick said.

Pressed for more, he conceded that negotiations between the U.S. and individual nations were not out of the question.

“I want to just be very clear here,” Brown told the commerce secretary, “Because allies and adversaries alike are looking at everything you’re saying right now about whether there’s room to negotiate on these tariffs before they announce what they’re going to do.”

“What I hear from you is that there isn’t room for negotiation. Is that right?” she asked.

Lutnick responded to say that “countries can fix their tariffs [and] their non-tariff trade barriers, which are much, much rougher.”

“America’s got to stop being exploited,” Lutnick said. “And you’re going to see America prosper. And then, and only then, will Donald Trump make a deal with each country, when they have really, really changed their ways. Then they go sit with him.”

Trump’s tariffs start at 10% for imports from countries including the United Kingdom and Brazil, and go up from there. Vietnam, for instance, has a 46% tariff set and Cambodia a 49% tariff. They go into effect April 5.