Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gloats about baffling UK trade deal

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick gleefully gloated Thursday that the U.S. went into trade negotiations with the U.K. with 10 percent tariffs and “we left with 10 percent tariffs” in a tentative deal.

He also warned that every country can expect to keep paying at least those 10 percent across-the-board tariffs imposed by Donald Trump, regardless of any trade agreement.

That means American consumers will likely still be hit by higher prices as U.S. importers fork over the money to pay those tariffs. The higher prices are expected to fuel inflation.

The U.S. last year had a $12 billion trade surplus with the U.K., so it’s a puzzle why Trump punished the country with higher tariffs, which were supposed to target those countries selling more products to the U.S. than they were buying.

The much ballyhooed tentative tariff deal with Britain announced Thursday could still be several weeks away from a final agreement, so details are broad.

The Trump administration reduced tariffs on British cars, steel, and aluminum, but kept the 10 percent across-the-board levies.

Under the terms of the tentative pact, Britain would be allowed to send 100,000 vehicles to the U.S. with a tariff of 10 percent. Cars shipped beyond that number would face a 27.5 percent tariff, The New York Times reported.

Lutnick also claimed that a U.K. airline was going to buy $10 billion worth of Boeing jets, apparently part of the deal, but he didn’t name the airline.

The U.K. agreed to buy more American beef and ethanol products. But American farmers often use growth hormone in the beef they sell, which was banned in Britain and all of Europe in the 1980s.

David Barton, Livestock Chair of the National Farmers Union, said: "There is no way we would accept anything that is not produced to our standards".

The last time the two countries tried to agree to a trade deal, negotiations faltered on arguments over food standards between the two countries.

American farmers use growth hormone, “that's fine," Barton told the BBC last month. “We don't do it here, and that's part of our standards. “

He added: “You cannot let imports come in to a lower standard, because you completely destroy what you've built over many years."

Lutnick said after the trade deal announcement: “So we feel really good about the deal. You’ve heard the prime minister, he feels really good about the deal, right? And we started at 10 percent and we ended at 10 percent. And the market for America is better.”

Trump also gushed: “It’s very conclusive and we think everyone’s going to be happy.”

Critics slammed the deal for continuing to stick American importers with 10 percent tariffs.

Former Republican Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan posted Lutnick’s comments, noting: “So Americans had to pay a 10 percent tax before the ‘deal,’ and Americans have to pay a 10 percent tax after the ‘deal.’ We have some of the most economically illiterate people in the world in charge of trade policy.”