‘Bullshit numbers... no, these are data’: Trump, Lutnick sparred over India & China tariffs, says new book

US President Donald Trump dismissed his own administration's data as "bullshit numbers" as he frantically sought a justification for high tariffs on India and China, New York Times' journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan have revealed in their book 'Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump'.

In a meeting at White House, Trump rejected the data that his economic team had provided him as it did not fit his agenda.

The data from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) showed that India and China did not impose enough tariffs on American goods and services to warrant the sky-high tariffs that Trump wanted to impose on these countries — Trump eventually hit India with the highest tariffs in the world at 50 per cent.

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In the meeting that escalated into a shouting match between top officials, Trump accused Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick of keeping him in the dark. Other officials also joined him in cornering Lutnick, who consistently advised against high tariffs and sought exceptions for sectors like automobiles.

"Nobody has fucking given me any numbers. Hard facts of how much China tariffs us, how much India tariffs us. You give me bullshit numbers,” Trump snapped when the data did not suit his agenda.

Lutnick pushed back and said: "Here are the numbers. Here are the numbers on how much each country is tariffing us."

But Trump continued to reject the data and said: "No, these are bullshit numbers. These are fucking bullshit."

How Lutnick lost to Trump & his yes-men

When Trump dismissed his own administration's data, Lutnick stood his ground and replied: "No, these are the real numbers! They come from USTR."

Lutnick turned to USTR Jamieson Greer and said: “Right, Jamieson? Jamieson, say these numbers are real. Jamieson, speak up.”

But Greer did not say anything at all and decided to play the yes-man to Trump.

Lutnick then turned to White House economic adviser Peter Navarro, who has served as Trump's top attack dogs on the tariff policy and said "tell him you agree with him" — Lutnick had been pressing Trump for exceptions for sectors like auto and blocs like the USMCA comprising Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

But Navarro sided with Trump and said there should not be any exceptions.

Then, US House Speaker Mike Johnson joined them in the meeting and he was the only one who sided with Lutnick and told Trump that his tariffs will hit the automobile sector hard. In the last attempt to convince Trump, Lutnick stressed that markets will crash if tariffs were rolled out without exceptions.

But Trump rejected Lutnick's concerns again and declare: "Okay, fine, I'll own it."

Eventually, Lutnick conceded that Trump had made a decision and the team had to execute it.

In addition to slapping the most tariffs on India in the world, Trump waged a trade war on China that spectacularly backfired. On the back of its monopoly on rare earth supplies, China forced Trump's surrender in the trade war. As for India, tariffs were just one of the many actions that plunged the US-India relationship to their worst point since the Cold War.