A TIME FOR SOMETHING GRAND AND BIG

Donald Trump has been in office for just over a month, but has already sent shock waves across the realms of geopolitics and world trade. He has imposed tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico, and threatens to impose reciprocal tariffs on other countries, including India, in April. Howard Lutnick, the newly appointed US Secretary of Commerce, is the key man leading the charge in global trade negotiations on behalf of Trump.

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HOWARD LUTNICK United States Secretary of Commerce

At the India Today Conclave, Lutnick participated live from Washington D.C. and took questions on a range of issues ranging from reciprocal tariffs, America’s bilateral relations with India and China, arms supply to India, the US Gold Card visa scheme, and so on. Defending the high tariffs that the US proposes to impose on imports, Lutnick said that the Trump administration looked at trade from its historical perspective. “From the 1870s to 1913, America only had tariffs and no income tax. And then, post the world wars, she tried to export the strength of its economy, the power of its economy, to help rebuild the world,” he said.