U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended President Donald Trump's tariffs on Thursday, saying positive effects will begin showing right away.
Asked point blank in CBS News how long people would have to wait to see the benefits of the policy, Lutnick said "you started hearing recently we have $5 trillion in committed investment."
Lutnick on CBS: "You're going to see employment leaping starting today." pic.twitter.com/J6kNSW01dz
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"People are going to start building factories right now. All that construction begins now. That starts to employ Americans today. You'll see plants being built, factories rebuilding. All shifts running hot across America now. You'll see employment leaping starting today," Lutnick added.
Most of the attention, however, is on stocks falling in the U.S. and around the world. In the U.S. alone almost $2 trillion in value have been wiped out as all major indexes plummet at the beginning of the trading session. Some of the country's largest companies are among those affected the most, especially those dependent on overseas manufacturing. Apple, Nike, Lululemon are some of them. Others that stock their shelves with imported products like Walmart are trading lower as well.
Over 90% of all S&P 500 companies were trading lower on Thursday, Bloomberg reported, and more than half had dropped at least 2%. "The market is realizing that there is pretty much no way to spin this as a positive," Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, told the outlet.
Moreover, an analysis by the Yale Budget Lab concluded that the lowest income households will be affected the most by the tariffs, and no one will be spared. Figures are reduced as income grows, with the richest households seeing a potential 2.1% drop. However, that figure still amounts to $9,500 per household among the richest tenth of the population.
Lutnick could be particularly interested in tariffs working, as Politico reported on Tuesday that he could also be on the receiving end of consequences if the economic fallout displeases Trump. Citing people within the administration, the outlet added that "Trump world is ready to play the blame game if things go poorly" and "all the fingers will be pointing at Lutnick."
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