According to a Fox Business News correspondent, Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary has set off a panic at the White House over comments he made on ABC Sunday morning where he created new doubts about Trump's tariff plans.
Late Friday night, the administration announced there would be a tariff carve-out for specific electronics such as laptops and iPhones coming from China, but Secretary Howard Lutnick created new confusion when speaking with "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
According to Lutnick, who already has his detractors in the Trump White House, "So what [President Donald Trump's] doing is he's saying they're exempt from the reciprocal tariffs, but they're included in the semiconductor tariffs, which are coming in probably a month or two. So these are coming soon."
That led Fox's Charles Gasparino to jump on X and report Lutnick has set off a new and unnecessary firestorm when the administration is frantically still attempting to calm a very jittery Wall Street.
Gasparino wrote, "Breaking: A senior Wall Street executive w ties to the Trump White House described @howardlutnick’s comments about the temporary nature of the tariff exemptions as 'off message. Now the market will open way down again since it appears the administration is totally confused. Susie (Wiles) needs to get control of Lutnick. He is a wrecking ball.'"
He later added, "Scoop: There is significant division inside the @WhiteHouse over @howardlutnick’s comments on the temporary nature of the tariff exemptions, an apparent 180 from where the world thought the trade negotiations were going, sources tell me. Of course the only opinion that really matters in the president’s but I am told plenty of people really believe he is 'off message' of trying to create a trade regime that involves negotiations even with China and actions that don’t roil the markets including the all important bond market. This story is developing."
You can watch the interview below via ABC or here:
- YouTubeyoutu.be
