Overview
- Howard Lutnick told World Economic Forum attendees that globalization left American workers behind and pressed other countries to adopt their own worker-first versions of the U.S. approach.
- He said nations should not offshore medicines, semiconductors or their industrial base, and that any unavoidable reliance should rest with a country's closest allies.
- Lutnick criticized Europe’s 2030 net-zero commitments, arguing that limited battery manufacturing would leave the bloc reliant on China.
- He signaled that future U.S. trade and investment decisions will differentiate allies from rivals, narrowing critical supply chains to trusted partners.
- The remarks came as tariff threats tied to President Trump’s Greenland push prompted EU warnings and market jitters, and they drew public pushback including Kanwal Sibal’s claim that the U.S. itself drove globalization.