Lutnick Says Details on Korean, Japan Deals Could Come in Weeks
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that details in writing on the South Korean and Japanese trade deals will come in "kind of weeks."
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
When a CNBC interviewer asked him if the administration and Japan are on the same page, given how the U.S. describes promised investments, and how Japan describes them, he said, "Look, every night and every morning, we're finishing documents, but we're on the same page."
Reports have said that the 25% Section 232 tariff on Japanese and Korean cars will go to 15% once joint statements are released.
Lutnick downplayed the possibility of releasing details for Vietnam or other developing countries in Asia.
"The other models are set," he said Aug. 19. "These countries have agreed to open their markets," and will lower their tariffs.
"You're not going to find a long, 250-page trade agreement," he said. He said American producers will finally be able to sell beef and other agriculture overseas. President "Donald Trump is smashing open these markets," he said, and the opening is asymmetrical. "They are going to pay us to sell to us."
Lutnick said the money from Japan and South Korea will fund semiconductor factories, new nuclear power, pipelines and pharmaceutical plants. Referring to chips, he said, when the president "says if you don't build in America, you're going to pay a 100% tariff, and then watch them come flying in."