From

sea to shining sea From

But I think what I'll do is I'll say, Howard, why don't you give us the honor of announcing what you're going to announce? Go ahead.

So the president had as one of his fundamental objectives was to bring semiconductor manufacturing home to America, right? It's all made in Taiwan, right? And that's just too far away for America.

So he's bringing it home.

So we're announcing Sibelco is going to build Silicon manufacturing.

It's quartz manufacturing.

It is basically the foundation of semiconductors, and they're going to build it right here in North Carolina.

That's work.

That's work.

But I think what I'll do is I'll say, Howard, why don't you give us the honor of announcing what you're going to announce? Go ahead.

So the president had as one of his fundamental objectives was to bring semiconductor manufacturing home to America, right? It's all made in Taiwan, right? And that's just too far away for America, so he's bringing it home.

So we're announcing Sibelco is going to build Silicon manufacturing.

It's quartz manufacturing.

It is basically the foundation of semiconductors, and they're going to build it right here in North Carolina.

Hundreds of millions of dollars.

[crowd cheering]

So two months ago, I'm spending time with President Trump, and he says, "We've got to build the greatest pipeline in the United States of America in Alaska." [crowd cheering] So he says, "Howard, go get it done." And what happened is the president has created the greatest trade deals in the history of economies, the history of the United States of America.

And so the Koreans, because the president has federalized this project, the Koreans, the Republic of Korea, has committed fifty point one billion dollars to build the line in Alaska.

[crowd cheering] Build the line.

Build the line.

[laughs] We'll build-

Build the line

So with Dan Sullivan, a couple of weeks ago, we announced that project in the Oval Office, which is every time you go in the Oval Office with President Trump, it is so cool.

Alaska."[crowd cheering]

So he says, "Howard, go get it done." And what happened is, the president has created the greatest trade deals in the history of economies, the history of the United States of America.

And so the Koreans, because the president has federalized this project, the Koreans, the Republic of Korea, has committed fifty point one billion dollars to build the line in Alaska.

Build the line.

So with Dan Sullivan, a couple of weeks ago, we announced that project in the Oval Office, which is every time you go in the Oval Office with President Trump, it is so cool.

And he says to me, the president says to me, "Howard, you gotta make it better." So all week, we were working with the Taiwanese government, and they agreed to buy thirty percent of everything produced on that line, and they will invest four point four billion dollars on top of the Koreans to make sure this line gets built.

So thank you, Mr.

President, for the greatest deal in the history of Alaska.

25 years later, how do you process it?

Well, you try to think back and, like now, I'm, because I'm here, I, like, I physically have goosebumps standing here because all behind you, these are all my people.

This is all their names, and my brother's right over there, and it just ...

It- it's just such a part of me, and I- I still, I can't believe it happened, right? How can you lose everybody you work with? And by the way, if you lose everyone you work with, you don't know how much you care about them.

But if I took everybody you work with away from you, you know what you'd do? You would cry, and you'd cry for years.

I cried until October 21st, 2004.

I cried every day for years.

You weren't here because ...

Twenty-five years later, how do you process it?

Well, you try to think back and, like now, I'm th- because I'm here, uh, like I physically have goosebumps standing here because all behind you, these are all my people.

This is all their names, and my brother's right over there.

And it just, it, it's just such a part of me, and I, I still, I can't believe it happened, right? How can you lose everybody you work with? And by the way, if you lose everyone you work with, you don't know how much you care about them.

But if I took everybody you work with away from you, you know what you'd do? You would cry, and you'd cry for years.

I cried until October 21st, 2004.

I cried every day for years.

You weren't here because?

Secretary, if it's memory, if it's beyond that, but what are you preparing to unveil? Well, remember, the Trump

administration has always said, if you build here, there's no tariff.

And you know we set out as one of our key things that when...

The Trump administration walked in the door and I walked in the door.

We had like 1% production of semiconductors.

And our goal is now 40%.

And if Intel can be successful, which it's clearly on the way to be, we can get to 50% domestic.

see it very differently.

Secretary, if it's memory, if it's beyond that, but what are you preparing to unveil?

Well, remember, the Trump administration has always said, if you build here, there's no terror.

And you know, we set out as one of our key things that when the Trump administration walked in the door and I walked in the door, we had like 1% production of semiconductors.

And our goal is now 40%.

And if Intel can be successful, which it's clearly on the way to be, we can get to 50% domestic.

By the end of the term.

by the end of the term.

Is there a chance

Secretary, if it's memory, if it's beyond that, but what are you preparing to unveil?

Well, remember, the Trump administration has always said, if you build here, there's no terror.

And you know, we set out as one of our key things that when the Trump administration walked in the door and I walked in the door, we had like 1% production of semiconductors.

And our goal is now 40%.

And if Intel can be successful, which it's clearly on the way to be, we can get to 50% domestic.

By the end of the term.

by the end of the term.

Is there a chance

Secretary?

I think if you if you look at the way Canada has treated the United States.

Right.

So Mark Carney talked to President Trump, let's say, a week before I was in the room with him.

And they had a nice conversation and they set the path to work it out.

Right.

Remember, Canada came to us about seven, eight weeks ago and said, come on, let's get a deal done.

Is that true?

This has to be a major factor in the boom from manufacturing We haven't seen anything like this in 20 years, Howard.

It's exhausting.

I mean, I am invited everywhere to groundbreakings.

I'm invited everywhere to construction meetings like tomorrow morning.

You know, I leave here tonight and tomorrow morning I go back to Houston, Texas.

We're meeting Tim Cook and we're announcing a Mac mini factory building.

So we go from from Toyota building here with Ford tomorrow.

Can you clarify any of that?

Howard, please.

So let's be clear, critical minerals are more than an economic issue.

They're a national security issue.

If we want to lead in advanced manufacturing, AI, semiconductors, energy defense, we can't depend on our foreign adversaries for the materials that underpin our industries.

We just can't.

And that's why the president tasked us to rebuild the supply chain and make it a top priority of his administration and my department.

So our objective is very simple.

amazing,

Everybody, Republican, Democrat.

We will lower your taxes.

We're

Howard Lutnick.

My favorite number, $18 trillion.

President Trump is bringing in more jobs, more investment, and more factories and more production than anybody ever dreamed.

And it is an honor to run the secretary, be the secretary of commerce for the greatest president of all of our lifetimes, Donald Trump.

[laughs]

I wasn't, like, trying to be quiet about it.

I mean, I think that globalization, right, and the idea of global supply chains and finding the lowest cost, I mean, that is just not the way to take care of your auto workers, right, who are in Ohio and Michigan.

And so we're bringing that back.

So think about this.

When we were done with...

We started auto tariffs, we started working on it in March, and we finished in November.

Do you think there's a risk here that we damage the economic relationship with the Europeans in the same way we do with the Canadians, and for that matter, derail the conservative movement in Europe that's well underway?

That wasn't happening.

No, I mean, I put it in the FT.

I mean, I wasn't like trying to be quiet about it.

I mean, I think that globalization, right, and the idea of global supply chains and finding the lowest cost, I mean, that is just not the way to take care of your auto workers, right, who are in Ohio and Michigan.

And so we're bringing that back.

So think about this, when we were done with, we started auto tariffs, we started working on it in March, and we finished in November.

And we were done, the last day when we finished, General Motors and Ford stocks each went up 10%.

Do you think there's a risk here that we damage the economic relationship with the Europeans in the same way we do with the Canadians? And for that matter, derail the conservative movement in Europe that's well underway?

Do you expect there will be other investments in the United States made as part of that $250 billion plus $250 billion?

SO WHAT WE DID IS WE GAVE TAIWAN $100 BILLION CREDIT BECAUSE TSMC CAME IN WITH THAT $100 BILLION IN 2025 WITH THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.

SO THAT'S $100 TOWARDS THE 250.

YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER, each chip has a translator in it right what connects the power to the chip what connects the chip to what you see on your screen right all those bits and parts they all need to come here and so we're going to have hundreds of companies coming here we're going to build giant semiconductor industrial parks in america and we are going to bring semiconductors home TO AMERICA.

THAT'S WHAT THIS IS.

THIS IS A $500 BILLION DOWN PAYMENT ON LET'S BRING THOSE SEMICONDUCTORS HOME.

Secretary, this expected buildout, not just in Arizona, but across the country.

So it's a couple of fold, exactly what you've said.

So tariffs,

which have been a big conversation.

There's two types of tariffs.

There's general tariffs.

That's in front of the Supreme Court.

And then there's sectoral specific tariffs.

Those that are specific, industry specific are in this bill.

Can you just double click into what that means, how you're going to go after it, and is it at the federal level, at the state level? Just kind of give us the rough game plan, what you can say.

What were the puts and takes and how did you come up with the decisions you made? And then if you could just reflect back on what went right, what would you want to redo, and what was maybe, and still is, misunderstood?

So, the president in his first term, um, he's been talking about tariffs and how the trade deficit of the United States of America is really a ripoff of America.

That, uh, people who don't weigh in very deep say, "Well, you have a, a trade deficit with the supermarket," right? You know, I mean, "You're always buying from the supermarket, so you have a trade deficit with the supermarket." That's- that's just silly, right? If you think about it, let's say there are two islands, right? One produces and one invents.

So the inventor lets the other island produce and keeps buying it from that other island.

Pays them the money and then that other island uses the money to buy the inventor's island.

And over a period of time, the producer owns the inventor's island, and the inventor works for the producer because he ran an infinite trade deficit and kept paying his money away.

So what's supposed to happen...

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, how stupid is that? How about...

My favorite is Europe.

They, um, currently think they need to go to all electric cars by twenty thirty, and they don't even make a battery.

They're gonna make themselves subservient to the Chinese.

So dumb.

So thank God we've got President Trump in the White House who understands it and is quickly changing it.

Do you think that's gonna happen?

Mm-hmm.

I mean, how stupid is that? How about- My favorite is Europe.

They currently think they need to go to all electric cars by 2030, and they don't even make a battery.

They're going to make themselves subservient to the Chinese.

So dumb.

So thank God we've got President Trump in the White House, who understands it and is quickly changing it.

So that's why we are going all in on drill, baby, drill.

Do you think that's gonna happen?

So how do you pick the winners here?

Well, you know, the CHIPS Act set a structure of some money to go for advanced manufacturing of semiconductors and some for R&D.

And the Biden administration had literally sent out $7.4 billion into some fraudulent company called Natcast and it was trying to steal the money we recaptured all the money and now we can use that money to invest in companies that will advance manufacturing in america so x-light as an example is trying to augment the way semiconductors are made right and move to the next level right now it's called extreme ultraviolet that's how you paint sort of the chips, the electronic chips, right? Silicon comes in and then they paint it with extreme ultraviolet light.

And that's how you create a chip that goes in your iPhone or an AI chip.

So X-Lite is trying to design the next generation of it.

and do it with other technologies, and we are always open for that, but we do lots of diligence, we have lots of experts, and we sort of help.

If it's going to help America, and companies are backing it and behind it, then we're interested in being involved, because we need to make sure America stays at the forefront of technology and chip production.

But what's the exit strategy with some of these investments, public or private?

Secretary Lutnick, what's the threshold in terms of reducing certain regulations in Europe on US tech companies that's required in order to create some sort of framework for this deal?

Well, what, what the European Union does is they say, "Well, our, our digital rules, they, they only touch companies above a certain threshold." Of course, the only companies above those threshold are all American companies, so come on.

That, that can't be the rule.

Let's take it off.

Let's, let's settle the outstanding cases against Google and against Microsoft and against Amazon.

Let's put them behind us.

Let's come up with a reasonable framework where these companies can grow and build, and then those companies will agree to invest hundreds of billions of dollars of data centers here.

Are you seeing any sort of relenting from them as you've been pushing it? Does it seem like they would agree to you on this point?

Secretary Luttnick, what's the threshold in terms of reducing certain regulations in Europe on U.S. tech companies that's required in order to create some sort of framework for this deal?

Well, what the European Union does is they say, well, our digital rules, they only touch companies above a certain threshold.

Of course, the only companies above those thresholds are all American companies, so come on, that can't be the rule.

Let's take it off, let's settle the outstanding cases against Google and against Microsoft and against Amazon.

Let's put them behind us.

Let's come up with a reasonable framework where these companies can grow and build And then those companies will agree to invest hundreds of billions of dollars of data centers here.

So the idea is if they take their foot off this regulatory framework and make it more inviting for our companies, they can get the benefit of it.

Are you seeing any sort of relenting from them as you've been pushing it? Does it seem like they would agree to you on this point?

He's very outspoken saying, hey, it's not clear to me that we're going to be selling our automobiles anywhere except in the United States, given the rise of BYD and other Chinese competitors, for example, that are so aggressive.

But the West, the West, so the...

Europeans are going to block Chinese cars.

They're going to learn their lesson.

People learn from us that you've got to block their cars because those are not competitive cars.

Those are government-backed cars.

Well, they're competitive on price, maybe because they're subsidized.

Who's paying the tariffs? Who do you think? Because as I've been pointing out, it's not showing up in consumer prices like all the economists were worried about.

There have been some questions about some weakness kind of popping up in the labor market at this point what do you see.

Well, the fact is the Donald Trump economy is just beginning, right? I mean, he's convinced all these companies to come in using his tariff policy to just come on in and build here way over $10 trillion of investment.

So look a year from today.

The end of this year starting and look a year from today, you're going to see employment numbers that you never imagined because what it's going to do is it's going to take the 6.9 million Americans who are capable of working, who are sitting on the sidelines now because they just haven't had the jobs they were looking for.

They're all going to come into the workplace because we're going to train them.

These are tech jobs.

These are building these factories and operating these factories.

The Supreme Court could go either way, Howard, and I guess the question is, What's the backup plan? Just because so much is riding on this, what happens if they strike that down? Do you go to the Senate and say, give us the power to do this? Are there plans in place to do those things? Is there a plan to give back the tariff money to the companies that have been paying it to this point? How does it work?