US Commerce Head: Tariffs ‘Not Going Away’

Despite an ongoing legal battle, the U.S. Commerce secretary said tariffs are here to stay.

The levies are “not going away,” Howard Lutnick said in an interview with Fox News Sunday (June 1), days after a federal appeals court paused a block on many of the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs.

President Donald Trump “has so many other authorities that even in the weird and unusual circumstance where this was taken away, we just bring on another or another or another,” Lutnick added.

Trump weighed in hours later on his Truth Social platform: “If the Courts somehow rule against us on Tariffs, which is not expected, that would allow other Countries to hold our Nation hostage with their anti-American Tariffs that they would use against us. This would mean the Economic ruination of the United States of America!”

The Court of International Trade last week blocked the majority of Trump’s global tariffs, finding that the president did not have “unbounded authority” to issue tariffs, only for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to lift the block and restore the levies the following day.

Asked about a European Union official who told Reuters the court decision offered the EU “extra leverage” in trade talks, Lutnick said, “It cost us maybe a week.”

Trump had threatened to impose a 50% tariff on European countries, then pushed that back to July 9. Since the court ruling, Lutnick told Fox, “everybody came right back to the table. Everybody’s talking to us. You’re going to see, over the next couple of weeks, first-class deals for the American worker.”

The 90-day pause on Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, which imposed sweeping tariffs on more than 100 countries, is set to run out soon. Lutnick said there won’t be another extension.

As PYMNTS wrote last week, the tariffs have cost companies more than $34 billion in lost sales and higher costs while also throwing supply chains and overseas relationships into disarray.

“It makes for a complicated B2B landscape to navigate for firms reliant on foreign sourcing, making the ability to enable secure, compliant and reliable trade more valuable than ever,” that report said.

“Against this backdrop, traditional banks may have a unique opportunity on their hands: the ability to underwrite cross-border risk, provide regulatory guidance and leverage global correspondent networks.”

In spite of the rise of alternative finance providers and FinTech challengers for cross-border B2B trade, traditional banks can still leverage their incumbent trust advantage to establish themselves as indispensable partners in uncertain times.

“The only catch? Certain innovations around payment speed, security and flexibility have become table stakes for today’s businesses — and banks will need to meet them where they are,” PYMNTS added.