President Donald Trump's nominee for Commerce secretary said Monday that the “External Revenue Service” was created on the first day of the new administration.
“Last week, on his birthday today, he announced that he was going to make America great again by creating the Foreign Revenue Service,” Lutnick said at a rally in Washington after Trump took office.
Lutnick echoed President Trump's praise of William McKinley, saying the United States prospered when tax collections focused on imported goods rather than domestic workers' incomes. McKinley was a supporter of tariffs, seeing them as a way to protect American industry from foreign competition while allowing the government to secure funding without directly taxing people's income.
President Trump said Monday that he would restore the name of North America's highest peak, Mount McKinley. The Alaskan mountain was originally called Mount McKinley by local prospectors in 1986, but it wasn't officially given that name until 1917. In 2015, the Obama administration changed its name to Mount Denali, meaning “high one” or “high one.” “One” in Koyukon-Athabascan.
Lutnick said revenue from tariffs will protect American workers while helping to fund rights programs.
“So what you always wonder is, aren't some bureaucrats going to cut your benefits? Not under the Donald Trump administration. Not under the Donald Trump administration. If they want to come to the richest countries and sell their products, that means paying foreign companies. And if they want to compete with American workers, they don't tax American workers. Let's do that,” Lutnick said.
