Trump’s trade tsar Howard Lutnick’s totally bananas solution to tariffs pushing up fruit prices wasn’t the slam dunk he thought it was

John Plunkett. Updated June 6th, 2025

Billionaire businessman and Donald Trump’s secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick has been doing his best to defend his master’s love of pretty much everything to do with tariffs.

Lutnick appeared before the House Appropriations Committee – what do you mean you don’t need this much detail? – where he was questioned about the impact of tariffs on the cost of fruit by Democrat, Madeleine Dean.

And Lutnick was so confident of his comeback that he asked for extra time to share it, except it wasn’t the devastating payoff he presumably thought it was (watch to the end. Sound up!)

DEAN: What’s the tariff on bananas?

LUTNICK: Generally 10%

DEAN: Walmart has already increased the cost of bananas by 8%

LUTNICK: If you build in America, there is no tariff

DEAN: We cannot build bananas in America pic.twitter.com/joZgWLND71

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 5, 2025

And here’s exactly what basically the entire internet made of that.

This is what happens when your economic policy is written by guys who think bananas come from factories.

— Nikos Unity (@nikosunity) June 5, 2025

This might be a top 5 greatest moment in congressional history https://t.co/jIe7Vr92nw

— Angry Staffer (@Angry_Staffer) June 5, 2025

Your daily reminder:

Florida cannot “build” Maple syrup,

Just like Vermont cannot “build” orange juice.

The same geographical laws of trade apply to other industries.

We cannot and never will be able to make everything in the United States.

— Lincs (@x_facts_matter) June 5, 2025

You’re gonna sit there and tell me a grown adult just answered the question like this?

How dumb is Lutnick?

— Ryca (@_oRyca_) June 5, 2025

This is so amazingly stupid. We could grow bananas in an indoor greenhouse with artifical environments. The cost of each banana would be about $15 each. https://t.co/vqTGSBK7Wh

— Decoding Fox News (@DecodingFoxNews) June 5, 2025

When your tariff logic is so broken that someone has to explain you can’t manufacture fruit… it might be time to rethink the whole “economic strategy” thing.

You can’t out-patriot gravity, or biology. Lutnick is a Dipsht. And he is a billionaire that “earned every penny” of…

— Evaristus Odinikaeze (@odinikaeze) June 5, 2025

“We cannot build bananas in America” is an all-time line. https://t.co/hH7FxwuWdW

— Andrew Bucholtz (@AndrewBucholtz) June 5, 2025

We are sooooo screwed. Completely Moronic and dangerous administration of fools. God please help us

— This is Corruption (@corruptentities) June 5, 2025

BREAKING: In a hilarious moment, Rep. Dean humiliates Commerce Secretary Lutnick, when he replies to Dean’s comment about Walmart raising banana prices by 8%, “If you build in America, there is no tariff.”

Dean: “We cannot build bananas in America.”pic.twitter.com/re5mh8WbqT

— Really American (@ReallyAmerican1) June 5, 2025

10.

Lutnick is the worst communicator at this level I have ever seen. He is worse than Peter Navarro, who is mentally ill and breathtakingly incompetent.

— Patrick Strother (@PatrickStrother) June 5, 2025

11.

Lutnick has to be reminded we don’t grow bananas in America proving you can be rich without being smart. pic.twitter.com/vr8jQABs2i

— James Tate (@JamesTate121) June 5, 2025

12.

DEAN: What’s the tariff on bananas?

LUTNICK: Generally 10%

DEAN: Walmart has already increased the cost of bananas by 8%

LUTNICK: If you build in America, there is no tariff

DEAN: We cannot build bananas in America

This messages describes the state of affairs in the US gov.

— Olga Nesterova (@onestpress) June 5, 2025

13.

I am so glad “why tariff banana” thought is reaching members of Congress. It’s the most obvious example of how insane this administration’s trade policy has been—officials like Lutnick can’t give a good justification for it because there simply isn’t one https://t.co/sB0kfV9T3v

— Joey Politano ️‍ (@JosephPolitano) June 5, 2025

Source @atrupar