Name: Tariffs not to blame for jobs number, says Sec. Lutnick
Uploaded: 2025-12-03T17:40:41.160Z
Duration: 2 min 51 s
Description: CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” team is joined by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss the labor market, tariff negotiations and more.

CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” team is joined by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss the labor market, tariff negotiations and more.

Washington

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded to recent economic data showing private sector job losses, stating that the primary cause was the government shutdown, not tariffs. He explained that delayed government payments led small businesses to slow projects, and deportations also contributed to the decline in job numbers.

Lutnick dismissed concerns about tariffs significantly impacting prices or inflation, arguing that tariffs only affect prices if they exceed 15%. He predicted that the downturn is temporary and expects strong economic growth next year, driven by major construction projects, advances in AI infrastructure, and lower energy costs.

Tariffs not to blame for jobs number, says Sec. Lutnick

Let's bring in U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the center of all of these discussions. Welcome, Mr. Secretary. It's good to have you. HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. Commerce Secretary Great to see you. So, before we get into some of these trade negotiations and deals, I do want to ask you about the recent economic data, because, today, we learned that the private sector is losing jobs, small business getting hit really hard, negative number in front of ADP. And one of the reasons that they cite is tariffs. So, do you worry about some of the economic fallout here as these tariffs really take hold? SECRETARY POMPEO No, no, it's not tariffs. Remember, you had the Democratic shutdown, right? And what do you think happens to small business? The people who do business with the U.S. government, they know they're not getting paid, so they sort of slow down their projects. So, you saw a little bit even of construction of small business down. So, the Democratic shutdown hurt the numbers. And then, remember, as you deport people, that's going to suppress private job numbers of small businesses. But they will rebalance and they will regrow. So, I think this is just a near-term event. And you will see, as the numbers come through over the next couple of months, you will see that all pass. And next year, the numbers are going to be fantastic. I think, because the jobs of building in America, as Donald Trump talks about, the huge — President Trump talks about the huge construction projects coming to America, I think you're going to see GDP next year superb, over 4 percent. I mean, you can definitely point to the shutdown. But we hear all the time that businesses do struggle with tariffs and the higher costs and the uncertainty that comes around that. And even if you don't think that that's happening, I mean, factory activity shrinking in November, by the most in four months. We got a manufacturing report this week. And in that survey, they did cite tariffs as a reason. I mean, this was a sector that was supposed to be helped the most by what you're doing on the trade front. Look, tariffs, you know, you're overstating. The fact is, we know, because we've studied it, that prices don't move unless tariffs are above 15 percent. They just don't move at all, because the suppliers and the distributors eat the numbers, and that's why prices stay the same. You've got inflation at the same levels, you know, cut to below 3 percent. I mean, these are key numbers. You hear prices coming down, energy coming down. It's not tariffs. It's simply a matter of there's idiosyncrasies in October with the shutdown. I think you'll see that pass and things will go incredibly well next year. I think the huge amount of growth in factories and construction coming next year are going to be impressive. AI building is going to be amazing. We're going to roll out huge amounts of power. We're going to cut the price power in America, and that's going to also drive the economy.

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