Commerce secretary reveals that President Trump plans to eliminate the IRS and make foreigners pay

During an interview with  Fox News, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed that President Donald Trump's primary goal regarding tariffs is to "abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and let all outsiders pay," referring to foreign governments.

Lutnick's comments come at a time when the IRS is on the verge of laying off thousands of employees. At the same time, the Republican president promises to create an "External Revenue Service," through which he could directly oversee both tariffs and other sources of revenue from abroad.

During the interview with journalist Jesse Watters, Lutnick added that South African tycoon Elon Musk, a top White House advisor and the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will "cut" $1 trillion in record time. Likewise, Trump's Commerce Secretary added, "we're going to get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America, and we're going to raise a trillion dollars of revenue."

Recently confirmed

Lutnick's words on Fox News came just hours after the U.S. Senate officially confirmed him as secretary of commerce, which is one of the most important posts in the new Trump administration. Lutnick, known to be very close to the Republican leader, was confirmed after a vote of 51 in favor and 45 against.

Four senators did not participate in the vote: Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI) and Jerry Moran (R-KS). With Lutnick's confirmation, Trump surpassed the confirmation pace of former U.S. Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama during their respective administrations.