US President-elect Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary pick, Howard Lutnick voiced strong disapproval recently about the way in which Ireland achieves a trade surplus with the US, describing the situation as “nonsense”.
Nominated yesterday by Mr Trump, Chairman and CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick said that as the next Secretary of Commerce, he joins “the best administration the US has ever seen” and will “unleash our full economic potential”.
Part of that plan, if Mr Lutnick’s recent statements are to be believed, will be to end Ireland’s trade surplus with the United States.
“It’s nonsense that Ireland of all places runs a trade surplus at our expense. We don’t make anything here anymore—even great American cars are made in Mexico,” Mr Lutnick posted on X last month.
“When we end this nonsense, America will be a truly great country again. You’ll be shocked!”
Similarly, speaking on Bloomberg Surveillance last month, Mr Lutnick took aim at Ireland’s role in profiting off of American multinational corporations, such as Apple.
“He’s [Trump] going to encourage people to build here and pay taxes. Let’s go over what Apple does right now. This is a simple example. They make the parts in China. They put the parts together in Taiwan. Then they wave their magic wand and it floats over Ireland – of course it floats over Ireland, because that’s where Apple does its products – and then it comes to America and they make, I don’t know, something like three percent profit in America.
“They pay corporate tax on three percent profit in America and Ireland announces a massive budget surplus for their five million people. Ha ha. It’s just not true,” Mr Lutnick said, adding, “Why is Ireland announcing a surplus? Oh give me a break. It’s all our business”.
As Secretary of Commerce, Mr Lutnick would be responsible for the United States’ trade and tariff strategy, with “additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” according to a statement from the president-elect.
He shares Mr Trump’s vision of bringing manufacturing back to America, which will be accomplished partly through a tougher stance on China and other trading partners.
The US is Ireland’s largest export market, sending in particular a significant amount of pharmaceutical products, making Ireland particularly vulnerable to a toughened American stance on international trade.
Mr Lutnick has long been one of Mr Trump’s most vocal Wall Street supporters, defending and advocating for his policies in the media, and overseeing as co-chair of the Trump-Vance transition team the assembly of the next American administration.