U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has emphasized the need for countries like India, Switzerland, and Brazil to ‘fix’ their trade relationships with America. According to Lutnick, these nations must ‘react correctly’ to the U.S. and cease actions detrimental to American interests.
The Trump administration has notably imposed a 50% tariff rate on India, which includes a 25% ‘penalty’ specifically for India’s ongoing oil trade with Russia. In a recent interview, Lutnick directly addressed this, stating, ‘We have a bunch of countries to fix…like Switzerland, Brazil…India, these are countries that need to really react correctly to America…open their markets, stop taking actions that harm America. And that’s why we are off-sides with them.’
President Donald Trump has recently engaged in diplomatic efforts with Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Trump has openly criticized India, asserting that its oil purchases contribute to funding Moscow’s war efforts. India, however, has countered this pressure, pointing out that the U.S. itself imports various goods, including chemicals, fertilizers, and uranium hexafluoride, from Russia, and that the European Union continues to rely on Russian energy.
Lutnick reiterated that any country desiring to sell to the U.S. consumer market must understand the imperative to ‘play ball’ with the President of the United States. This firm stance underscores the administration’s resolve on trade. The Commerce Secretary also added Taiwan to this list, suggesting these complex trade issues would eventually be resolved over time.
He cited Switzerland as an example, noting its $40 billion trade deficit with the U.S., which he characterized as making it a ‘small rich country’ due to significant exports to America. Lutnick referred to a May 8 U.K.-U.S. agreement on trade and tariffs (which has not yet been finalized) as ‘the first deal,’ implying that other nations seeking similar arrangements might face less favorable terms. ‘You couldn’t even get that on May 9th after we did the deal on May 8th,’ he remarked, suggesting ‘Because that [the U.K.’s] was the first deal, you’d have to pay a little more.’
Finally, Lutnick highlighted Europe’s economy as a ‘special’ and ‘extraordinary’ opportunity for U.S. exports, given its size and population. This comment followed the announcement of a trade deal between the E.U. and the U.S. in July, during President Trump’s visit to Scotland.