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00:00I want to start on your discussions with the European Union. We were hearing some noise that
00:05it doesn't necessarily include reducing steel and aluminum tariffs from 50% to 15%. Is that
00:11off the table for now? No, what we're talking about, everything is on the table when you have
00:18such a great partner as the European Union. They have 450 million people and a $20 trillion economy,
00:26so the opportunity is great. They would like to have steel and aluminum as part of this package,
00:32and we think it is very, very important that they understand our digital companies and they
00:39reconsider their digital regulations to be more inviting to our big companies. They tend to
00:45tax our big companies and attack our big companies, and they're not getting the investment that we're
00:49getting, right? You're seeing trillions of dollars of our tech companies investing and building data
00:55centers in America, and they're not getting them here, so we're talking to them about
00:59take your foot off the regulatory statement, build those data centers in America, and in exchange for
01:07that, we'll come up with a cool steel and aluminum deal that will all be together. So it's all trading.
01:14These are trade deals. You're talking about opportunities together. Let's bring it all on
01:19the table. Let's see what we can accomplish. Secretary Lutnik, what's the threshold in terms
01:24of reducing certain regulations in Europe on U.S. tech companies that's required in order to create
01:31some sort of framework for this deal?
01:35Well, what the European Union does is they say, well, our digital rules, they only touch companies
01:43above a certain threshold. Of course, the only companies above those thresholds are all American
01:48companies, so come on. That can't be the rule. Let's take it off. Let's settle the outstanding
01:54cases against Google and against Microsoft and against Amazon. Let's put them behind us. Let's
02:00come up with a reasonable framework where these companies can grow and build, and then those
02:05companies will agree to invest hundreds of billions of dollars of data centers here. So the idea is if they
02:14take their foot off this regulatory framework and make it more inviting for our companies, they can
02:20get the benefit of hundreds of billions, possibly a trillion dollars of investment a year. So the idea is
02:27I'm trying to convince them that winning the way Donald Trump is winning in America is the way to go. Look at
02:34America. Look at these growth rates. Come on. Do you realize our investment in AI CapEx
02:40last quarter exceeded consumer spending in America? We had 3.8 percent GDP growth. We're going to grow
02:48over 4 percent, and next year we can grow over 5 percent. You got to embrace what's coming. The AI world is
02:56coming. Come on, embrace it. That's what we're here doing, trying to bring and make our deal with Europe,
03:03which was a great deal done by Donald Trump. Let's make that deal better. Secretary Lutnik,
03:08just on that point and point taken on what you see is the benefit to embracing that tech,
03:13but the EU over and over again has insisted that its digital laws are not up for discussion.
03:20Are you seeing any sort of relenting from them as you've been pushing it? Does it seem
03:25like they would agree to you on this point?
03:26Well, you know, I see a lot of ministers. Remember, there's 27 countries, so some are more open-minded
03:36than others. But you know, it's a process, which is talking to them and telling them that if they want
03:42to get that kind of investment here, they've got to change the model. So there's the carrot and the
03:49stick. You know, if you keep taxing these companies, they're not going to give you the investment. So
03:54that's my job to sort of talk about it, help those American companies find their way clear to invest
04:00here and to grow here. And another example for them, I show them that, you know, they're ruling
04:06out clean diesel for batteries. And I try to remind them, you don't make batteries in Europe. Come on,
04:13guys. Don't make rules that harm yourself. You don't make batteries. That's not a good idea. Stick with
04:21clean diesel. Stick with combustion engines. Come on. Be clever about yourselves. And just
04:28common sense. This is the common sense Trump administration here in Europe trying to remind
04:34them that they have an amazing economy that can grow and build, will help them grow and build with
04:39great trade with America. But you can't be silly and sort of embrace just batteries, which you don't
04:46make in Europe. So these are the kind of conversations I have. They're pretty fun,
04:50if you ask me, because I get to point to the growth in America and say, come on, follow our lead
04:58and we will have a bigger, better, stronger trade deal. We'll add to it. We'll add excitement to it.
05:05But you've got to come along with us. Secretary, in terms of that big growth
05:09we've been seeing because the A.I. has been contributing a lot to this American economy.
05:13And as a lot has been said about the two speed nature of it, that on one hand, A.I. is doing
05:18well. And on the other hand, you have consumers that are still feeling high prices. You saw that play
05:22out through the most recent elections. There's been a renewed concentration from this Trump administration
05:28to try to reduce tariffs, especially on things like food, give food, uh, food goods.
05:35Are you and the rest of this administration, as you negotiate tariffs, specifically looking at that,
05:39trying to find tariffs to bring down to lower the cost of everyday household items for American consumers?
05:49Exactly. The Trump administration is exactly about affordability. We are going through
05:55every line item to try to make sure we can drive affordability across the American consumer landscape.
06:02Two things, though. American earnings are growing, right? The average earnings of America,
06:08their income is growing. So as that grows and we drive prices down, you're going to feel that golden
06:15age coming. So it's the combination of earnings growing and we are razor focused on bringing down
06:22prices. That's one of the things we're doing here today, working together to try to bring down prices
06:27on average daily products. We are working on it. The Trump administration is on it. We have a clear
06:34direction from the president. We are going to lower prices and make things more affordable,
06:39but we're also going to raise income, raising income as well. Just to build on what Danny's talking
06:44about, though, there is a feeling that there is a limit to how much tariffs can go up or how much the
06:50Trump administration may have to reduce tariffs going forward in order to address some concerns about
06:56cost of living. Has that affected your negotiations at all? No, I think it's pretty easy. The world
07:05understands that there's give and take in these trade deals and the benefits are clear that the Trump
07:11administration has created the greatest set of trade deals. You know, the president has talked about a
07:16$2,000 tariff given and coming back to the American people. He got the one big beautiful bill, which is going to cut
07:23and there's going to be significant income growth from people next year as that bill comes into play.
07:29And we are going to focus on the affordability. You saw coffee and cocoa and bananas and all those
07:35kind of things. Those prices came down. You're going to see prices continuously come down, energy prices
07:42down. You're going to see affordability across the board here. Trump administration is going to win
07:48in affordability and income. Two sides of the coin. We're going to win. Secretary Lutnik,
07:53there's been a huge focus and you've been talking about how U.S. tech has definitely been the bastion
07:58of the economic growth over the past couple of years. Has the Trump administration decided whether
08:04or not to allow Nvidia to sell the H200 chips into China? That's been a discussion and something that
08:09increasingly people are speculating about. Well, I've seen that speculation. That kind of decision
08:17sits right on the desk of Donald Trump, right? He's got Jensen from Nvidia who really wants to
08:23sell those chips and he's got a good reasons for it. There's an enormous number of other people who
08:28think that that's something that should be deeply considered. And the benefit that we have is we have
08:33Donald Trump in the Oval Office. He is going to weigh those decisions. He understands President Xi the
08:39best. He will decide whether we go forward with that or not. That's on his desk with lots of different
08:44advisors. The president loves to hear lots of different voices to make those kind of decisions
08:49and he'll decide whether we sell those chips or not. And then we will go execute it however he decides
08:54to go forward. There's a bigger question here, Secretary Lutnik, about what national security is.
08:58Is it more of a national security risk to give China some of these high powered chips?
09:03Or is it more of a national security risk to not have U.S. tech in China? Has your view on that changed?
09:12Well, that's the question exactly as well put and in front of the president, which is,
09:17do you want to sell China some chips and keep them using our tech and our tech stack? Or do you say to them,
09:26look, we're not going to sell you our best chips? We're just going to hold off on that and we're
09:31going to compete in the AI race ourselves. So that is the question. It's in front of the president. He's
09:36going to decide. It's a really, really interesting question. He's got all the information. He's got
09:41lots and lots of experts talking to him and he's going to decide which way he wants to go forward.
09:46Secretary Lutnik, meanwhile, use of IEPA for tariffs is in front of the Supreme Court. The feedback has
09:53been skepticism so far from many of the justices, conservative ones included. As this plays out,
09:59can you walk us through how you'd prioritize the different alternatives should the administration's
10:04use of tariffs via IEPA get struck down?
10:10So I was in the Supreme Court. I sat through the whole argument. The justices were tough on the
10:16beginning on the Department of Justice's, you know, our person. But then they were much tougher
10:24on the other side, much, much tougher. So I left that day feeling very confident that we and the
10:31president was going to prevail on these IEPA tariffs. So I think you're hearing it from me. I think I was
10:37there in the courtroom. I heard it all the way through. I didn't sort of write my story halfway
10:42through. I sat all the way through to the end. The president's going to win that case because that
10:47makes sense for him to win. But I want to remind you, the president has lots of other authorities.
10:53He has 232s. He has 301s. He has 338s. He has a whole variety, 112, 122. He's got all sorts of other
11:02powers. And tariffs are going to be part of this administration going forward. But I don't think
11:09they're going to be necessary because the president's going to win the IEPA case in front of the Supreme
11:14Court. Secretary Lutnik, theoretically, if the U.S. did lose that court in front of the Supreme Court
11:19in terms of IEPA as justification, how quickly could you roll out that package of additional measures,
11:25whether it's Section 301 or Section 232? I think many of them could come very, very quickly.
11:33I really I don't think most of the big deals I don't think are in jeopardy. I think the people
11:39who did those deals, they don't want their tariffs to go up. They want the auto tariffs. That's durable.
11:45That was in a 9-0 at the Supreme Court. You have auto tariffs. You have semiconductors. You have
11:50pharmaceuticals. You have steel and aluminum. You have lumber. All of those are durable tariffs.
11:55They're not going anywhere. I think our big trade deals are here to stay the way they are now.
12:01Right. And and the others, I think we're going to win the case. But I think it would be relatively
12:07straightforward for the president to replace it with other means. But it's not going to be necessary
12:13because the president has used IEPA correctly and he's going to win that case. Secretary Lutnik,
12:18we know you've got a really busy morning. But before we let you go, has the Supreme Court case
12:23influenced any of your discussions at all with trade partners in terms of what the potential limits are
12:29to your ability to negotiate or potentially keep some of the ongoing negotiations that have been
12:34already struck? So that's exactly the point. I'm here in Europe. It hasn't come up at all.
12:41The fact is, we've made a great deal with Europe. They think it's important to them. It's important to
12:46us. It includes semiconductors. It includes pharmaceuticals. It includes autos. These are things
12:53that are important to the European Union and they're important. The whole trade deal is important
12:58to America. I think this deal stands. I think the question that we are negotiating is how to make
13:03the deal bigger, how to make it stronger, how to make it more inclusive, how to bring in these digital
13:10markets act and try to improve that for digital America, how to maybe do steel and aluminum and how
13:16to include that, how to do things bigger and better together between our two great economies. I think
13:22they're going to do its standards, make sure they take U.S. autos here and make sure we are working
13:28together to extend both the European Union standards and American standards throughout the world. I don't
13:35feel that the IEPA case is here at all. I think the opportunity is for us to grow and do business
13:42together. People want to have their trade deals with America and I think these deals are durable.
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