The cabinet secretary helping to negotiate Donald Trump’s global tariff deals didn’t appear to know some of his own trade laws while testifying about them in Congress.
Billionaire businessman turned Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also stunned senators when answering questions about Trump’s stated goal of tariff reciprocity, prompting frustrated Republican John Kennedy to ask: “What’s the purpose of reciprocity then?”
The testy exchange took place during an appropriations hearing on Capitol Hill, in the latest sign that some GOP lawmakers are becoming increasingly impatient with the White House’s negotiating strategy.
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Kennedy, who has previously questioned the wisdom of Trump’s trade wars, asked Lutnick: “Tell me your understanding of the Trade Expansion Act.”
“I don’t have a really good understanding of the term,” Lutnick said. “I may know the Act, but I may not know its title.”
“You’re not familiar with the Trade Expansion Act of 1962? That gives the President almost unlimited authority to impose tariffs, as long as you conduct an investigation. You don’t know about that?”
Lutnick explained that he didn’t know what the law was called, but “of course knew” about the act in general.
Kennedy then asked about a legal principle that is meant to stop federal agencies from making major decisions on their own without clear, explicit authorization from Congress.
The Commerce Secretary paused briefly before replying: “I am not a lawyer, so I can’t speak to it with that kind of precision.”
Lutnick’s stumbles during the hearing were reminiscent of the gaffe Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem made earlier this month when she couldn’t give the meaning of habeas corpus - the constitutional principle that safeguards people from unlawful imprisonment by allowing them to petition the court to review the legality of their detention.
It also comes at a critical juncture for Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs, which have given Wall Street so much whiplash that investors have embraced a new term for the president: TACO, or Trump Always Chickens Out.
But things got particularly heated when Kennedy asked about the administration’s supposed endgame of reciprocity.
Asked if he would accept a zero-for-zero trade deal with a country like Vietnam, Lutnick strongly rejected the notion. Vietnam is one of more than 60 countries that could soon face tariff hikes unless it strikes a deal with the administration.
“Absolutely not. That would be the silliest thing we could do,” he said, arguing that Vietnam is being used as a pathway for China to send products to the U.S.
Kennedy was not impressed.
“What’s the purpose of reciprocity, then?” he said. “Is reciprocity not one of your goals? Are you telling the president that we shouldn’t seek reciprocity? If that’s what you’re telling him, why are you trying to do these trade deals?”
Lutnick testified as part of a broader hearing into the commerce department’s 2026 budget request, using the opportunity to talk up Trump’s economic agenda.
During a separate exchange with Maine Senator Susan Collins, the former chief executive and chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald also vowed to protect her state’s lobster industry, telling the audience: “I love lobster”.
After the hearing, Democrat National Committee chairman Ken Martin said Americans were rapidly losing confidence in Trump’s economic agenda, “and Commerce chief Howard Lutnick did nothing to convince them otherwise during his hearing today.”
