Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has angered everyone around him with his behavior, reported Politico on Tuesday.
Lutnick, the former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, has been the president's go-to figure on TV for publicly defending the president's controversial tariff policies, which have economists and even some conservative Republican lawmakers alarmed at potential damage to the economy.
"While Americans and much of the world brace for a possible season of pain following the imposition of the new tranche of tariffs, Trump’s orbit is ready to play the blame game should things go poorly for the White House. And all the fingers will be pointing at Lutnick," Politico reported, citing two unnamed sources that it said were close to the administration.
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This follows previous reporting that Lutnick, who apparently started irritating Trump's inner circle even before the president was inaugurated due to his reported unsuccessful jockeying to get the Treasury Secretary role, is being set up to take the blame if the tariff plan goes sideways.
One source told Politico, “I think people would take special pleasure in blaming him,” and that Lutnick is “giving [Trump] bad advice — pushing more aggressive tariffs.” This person went so far as to say Lutnick is “a new voice at the table pushing crazy s---,” and “I don’t know anyone that isn’t p---ed off at him.”
Trump is poised to announce a new round of tariffs this week that he has said will hit "all countries," triggering yet another wave of market uncertainty as investors brace for potential risk.