Howard Lutnick: Economy is going to explode without cutting anybody's benefits
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joined 'America's Newsroom' to discuss growing concerns of inflation amid President Donald Trump's tariffs and how DOGE spending cuts will impact Americans and the broader economy.
More details have emerged from the Trump administration about alleged plans to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and utilize tariffs so the "whole economy explodes."
"His goal is to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and let all the outsiders pay," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on "Jesse Watters Primetime" Wednesday.
"As the president said, reciprocal tariffs, either you bring yours down or we're going to bring ours up. If we go to their level, it will earn us $700 billion a year to be equal to everybody else," he expanded on "America’s Newsroom" Thursday.
"And there goes our deficit. And interest rates come smashing down, and the whole economy explodes higher."
TRUMP'S TREASURY SECRETARY SHUTS DOWN ANY TARIFF CONCERNS, PRAISES ‘FRICTIONLESS GLOBAL TRADE’
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick doubled down on President Donald Trump's plan to abolish the IRS. (Getty Images)
Last month, President Donald Trump announced a new "External Revenue Service" that would be tasked with collecting revenue from tariffs, and potentially replace the IRS as America has been "taxing ourselves."
Trump has boasted about bringing the U.S. economy back to a "golden age," prior to 1913 when the federal income tax was created, where government funding primarily came from tariffs – though economists have questioned whether this approach is feasible in modern times.
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Lutnick provided multiple examples of profitable tariff use to Watters: "Cruise ships – you ever see a cruise ship with an American flag on the back? They have flags of, like, Liberia or Panama. None of them pay taxes… Every supertanker, none pays taxes. Alcohol, all foreign alcohol, no taxes. This is going to end under Donald Trump."
"And those taxes are going to be paid and Americans' tax rates are going to come down," he added. "That's what Donald Trump wants to do, balance our budget and cut our taxes."
Tariffs are taxes on imports, which in most cases are paid by the U.S.-based importer to an existing federal agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The U.S., Canada and Mexico came to an agreement before a 25% tariff went into effect, and a current across-the-board tariff has been placed on Chinese exports.
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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick discusses the Trump administration’s economic and fiscal policies on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’
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"We've got the power. We've got to use tariffs. We've got to use the External Revenue Service to take care of America and cut the scams and the abuse, the waste. And let's make America great," Lutnick also told Watters.
"We mean 'great' by saying no deficit and, basically, try to eliminate the Internal Revenue Service and our taxes. Cut taxes, try, try to get them down because we're great, and we collect the money."
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Gxstocks’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
