Economy

Lutnick: Japan’s $550 Billion ‘Signing Bonus’ Lets Trump Build America’s Future

Published

July 25, 2025

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joined The Ingraham Angle to break down the Biden Fed’s wasteful spending and to praise President Trump’s historic new trade deal with Japan. From what he called the “Fed Mahal” to tariffs on China, Lutnick laid out how Trump’s economic agenda is fueling American growth—without relying on foreign manufacturing.

“They are losing so much money, the way they’re managing everything is so bad,” Lutnick said about the Fed’s current operations. “And then they spend three billion dollars, and I love the name, by the way—the Fed Mahal. I mean, how great is that for Taj Mahal? So funny.”

He added that every rate cut matters: “You got to remember, every point saves the United States of America $360 billion. So cut a half and at least give America $180 billion. Come on.”

“This Is Literally the Japanese Government Giving Donald Trump $550 Billion”

When asked about Japan’s recently announced trade surplus with the U.S. and its $550 billion investment, Lutnick made the scope of the deal clear. “Exactly, that’s the misunderstanding,” he said. “This is not Toyota investing in America. This is literally the Japanese government giving Donald Trump $550 billion and says go fix whatever you need to fix.”

He gave a specific example: “Generic antibiotics, right? We don’t make antibiotics in America—they’re made in China. How are we gonna fix that? Because China sells them for half, so no one’s gonna go into that business.”

With this money, he said, Trump can bring it all home: “Donald Trump can take the Japanese money and say let’s go build a factory. Let’s get an American company to operate it, right? We’ll lease them the factory, and if they don’t make much money—so what? That’s the beauty of this deal.”

Lutnick emphasized that this investment wasn’t limited to antibiotics. “They cut their tariff costs by giving Donald Trump the money to invest in semiconductors, shipbuilding, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals—right, critical minerals and rare earths. He can build anything he wants to make America powerful.”

He added, “That’s why Donald Trump calls it a signing bonus… If you want to talk about tariffs working, is there a better way to say he gets $550 billion to invest in America the way Donald Trump wants to do it? I mean, that is awesome.”

“Trump Understands. He Doesn’t Need to Do a Deal With China”

Lutnick dismissed the need for new deals with China. “Donald Trump understands. He doesn’t need to do a deal with China,” he said. “The idea is—we’ve got 30% tariff on them for this term, 25 from his last term, so they’re paying 55%. And you know what he’s thinking? That’s pretty good.”

When Laura asked about the claim that tariffs get passed on to consumers, Lutnick pushed back. “I don’t know how many months have to go by before the 2.7 percent inflation is actually 2.70 percent inflation,” he said. “We put 30 percent on China. Why? When the experts—you know, these famous experts who say we’re going to get inflation—where is it? You know where it is? It’s nowhere.”

Why? “Because the Chinese need to employ their people, so they eat it. Because they need to keep selling, they need to keep selling.”

“Donald Trump Chooses the Deal”

On the topic of transshipping—when countries like China send goods through other nations to dodge tariffs—Lutnick said Trump’s new deals are closing that loophole. “In every one of our deals, we say if it’s got these other markets’ content—40%, 40%,” he said.

He estimates the U.S. could reap massive revenues. “That’s why he knows he’s going to make $700, $800, maybe $900 billion,” Lutnick said. “Because if you put 40% on all of that stuff, this is going to the bottom line of America.”

He closed with a simple message about who controls the dealmaking. “Donald Trump chooses the deal,” he said. “And then we go implement that deal. And the Japanese are saying, in order to buy our tariff down from 25 to 15, here’s $550 billion.”