Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick vehemently denied that the Trump administration aims to “weaken the dollar” through the newly announced tariffs, arguing that they will instead stop other countries from manipulating the dollar’s value. 

Lutnick discussed the Trump administration’s “Liberation Day” tariffs on CNN Thursday, saying that the president was telling other countries to “stop manipulating the currency” of the United States. He added that doing this would result in the dollar becoming “cheaper” but also allow the U.S. to export goods more easily.