Sec. Lutnick Laments Korea Wouldn’t Let McDonald’s Bring In French Fries Because They Couldn’t Prove the Origin

LUTNICK: “But countries can fix their tariffs, their non-tariff trade barriers, which are much, much rougher. That’s why the story I was trying to tell you is that when we took cars from Korea in 2012 — when I grew up, there was no Korean cars in America — when we took cars from Korea, the deal was we could sell ag to Korea. That was the deal. They wouldn’t let McDonald’s bring in French fries because they couldn’t prove the origin of the French fry. That is not a tariff. That is called a non-tariff trade barrier. They take their taxes and they subsidize their steel industry or they subsidize their energy or they subsidize — or they give the tax back to their car manufacturer.”
BROWN: “Right.”
LUTNICK: “This stuff has got to stop.”
BROWN: “Let me just follow up.”
LUTNICK: “America’s got to stop being exploited and you’re going to see America prosper. And then and only then will Donald Trump make a deal with each country when they’ve really, really changed their ways. Then they will sit with him.”
BROWN: “So it sounds like he might back off down the road, but not —: [crosstalk]
LUTNICK: “That’s not back off. And that’s not back off. “
BROWN: “OK, so let me — so let me just —“ [crosstalk]
LUTNICK: “That is let the dealmaker make his deals when and only if these countries can change everything about themselves, which I doubt they will. Because —“ [crosstalk]
BROWN: “So he is willing to negotiate then? So he is willing to negotiate with these countries right now or if they decide to look —”
LUTNICK: “Negotiate is talking, no talking, doing. These countries —”
BROWN: “Because —”
LUTNICK: “— have abused us and exploited us. As he said yesterday, they need to change their ways.”
BROWN: “All right. Let me follow up — [crosstalk]”
LUTNICK: “Let’s see them change their ways. It’s going to be a long time. Let’s see what they do. Not talking.”
BROWN: “OK.”
LUTNICK: “Talking is nonsense.”