Sep 12, 2025 - Politics & Policy
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In the debut episode of "The Axios Show," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joins Axios co-founder Mike Allen to discuss the state of President Trump's economy, the high-profile ICE raid at a Hyundai plant in Georgia and his late-night chats with the president.
The big picture: This five-episode video interview series features our top reporters and experts talking to the biggest names shaping politics, media, business, tech and culture.
- In our first episode, Lutnick says that Trump is turning up pressure on drugmakers to lower prices, adding that the president was "talking about this all day on Saturday."
- He answers questions about Americans' existential worries that artificial intelligence will displace their jobs and what he can do about surging student loan delinquencies.
Behind the scenes: Lutnick talks about being in the room for Trump's negotiations with Japanese officials on a trade deal over the summer with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other members of Congress had arrived for a separate meeting and were invited into the room, Lutnick says.
- "That put so much pressure on the Japanese," Lutnick says. Trump "has the leadership of the Congress in the room watching this negotiation take place, and [the Japanese official] has to get a deal done, and the president is just pushing him."
- "It was literally a masterclass of both negotiating and the art of negotiating by bringing these people in. It changed the room."
