House Democrat Burns Howard Lutnick With Bananas

House Democrat Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) recently roasted President Donald Trump‘s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over bananas. Knewz.com has learned that the incident unfolded during a meeting of the House Appropriations Committee.

During the meeting, Lutnick insisted that President Trump’s aggressive tariff policies would teach self-reliance to businesses in the United States by relying less on imports. Congresswoman Dean then asked the former stockbroker about the tariff on bananas, which, according to reports, Americans consume 26 pounds of each year. “Americans, by the way, love bananas. We buy billions of them a year. I love bananas. What’s the tariff on bananas?” the House Democrat asked Lutnick during the meeting. The Commerce Secretary responded by saying that the tariff on bananas “would be representative of the countries that produce them,” which he said was “generally 10%.”

However, Dean then pointed out that Walmart has already increased the price of bananas by eight percent, to which Lutnick replied that the prices of items like bananas would gradually decrease once the countries make new deals with the U.S. “But the cost is on the American consumer now, and on the businesses with the confusion now,” Congresswoman Dean clapped back. “Mr. Secretary, I believe you know better. I believe you recognize that a trade deficit is not something to fear. I believe you know that predictability, stability, is essential for businesses. I wish you would show that truth to this administration,” she added. Lutnick, in turn, replied that if “you build in America and produce your product in America, there will be no tariff.” However, Dean was quick in pointing out that “we cannot build bananas in America.”

Reports have mentioned that while it is possible to grow bananas in Hawaii and southern Florida, the yield is not nearly sufficient to meet the domestic demand of the fruit in the U.S. The House Democrat later commented on the conversation on X, formerly known as Twitter, writing, “Never thought as a former writing professor, I would be giving economics lessons to the Commerce Secretary, but here we are. Trump’s chaotic tariffs are rooted in an arbitrary fear of a trade deficit, but a trade deficit means Americans are buying goods — a sign of financial security. … I reminded Mr. Lutnick that the last time we had a trade surplus was during the Great Depression — let’s not go back there.” She further commented on President Trump’s tariff policy and the conversation with Lutnick in a separate post on X, writing, “America excels at a lot of things, but growing bananas isn’t one of them. The reality is that not everything can be produced in the U.S. Trump tariffs penalize Americans simply for buying the quality goods they want.”

She argues that Trump’s new tariff policy would raise prices of essential and everyday goods that Americans need and consume, but cannot be domestically produced. Her exchange with Secretary Lutnick has since gone viral on social media, with many people swarming to her defense and agreeing with her stance regarding Trump’s tariff policy: “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 dips***,” an investment banker wrote on X. Betsey Stevenson, a former Member of Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, wrote, “America has neither a comparative nor an absolute advantage in banana growing. I think Lutnick really means that Americans should stop eating bananas.”

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