Louisiana Senator John Kennedy and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick shared a tense exchange on the Senate floor Wednesday as he testified before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee about his department’s 2026 budget request.
The verbal battle focused on whether or not Trump and his advisors are genuinely interested in pursuing the reciprocal lowering of trade barriers with nations Trump has threatened to slap with massive tariffs.
Kennedy asks Lutnick, “If Vietnam came to you tomorrow and said, Mr. Secretary, you win, we’re going to remove all tariffs and all trade barriers with the United States, please do the same. Would you accept the deal?”
“Absolutely not. That would be the silliest thing we could do,” replies Lutnick.
When pressed by Kennedy as to why, Lutnick states, “Vietnam has $125 billion in exports to us. It imports from us $12.5 million. And you’re thinking, Vietnam exports $125 billion? But where do they get it from? They buy $90 billion from China, then they mark it up and send it to us. It’s just a pathway from China to us.”
Kennedy continued an attempt to dig out the logic behind the sweeping tariffs, which Trump has paused continuously.
“What’ the purpose of reciprocity then? Is reciprocity not one of your goals?” Kennedy inquires. “Are you telling the president that we shouldn’t seek reciprocity? If that’s what you’re telling him, then why are you trying to do these trade deals?”
“What do we want?” Lutnick responds, “We want to encourage Vietnam to produce products they’re great at producing.”
Watch the full clash between Kennedy and Lutnick here
“You just said you don’t accept reciprocity as a goal,” Kennedy retorts. “Why are you negotiating in these trade deals, then? You’re trying to get other countries to lower their trade barriers in order to get us to lower ours. That’s called reciprocity. Are you or are you not seeking reciprocity in these trade deals?”
“We are absolutely accepting reciprocity with respect to things that can be reciprocal," replies Lutnick. "But when they’re importing it from China and sending it from China, it's not.”
“You just said if a country came to you and offered the ultimate reciprocity," says Kennedy. "No tariffs, no trade barriers in return for us doing the same. You would reject that?… Suppose they said we won’t buy from China, would you accept that deal?”
“We would consider it,” Lutnick states.
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