I want to start on your discussions with the European Union. We were hearing some noise that it doesn't necessarily include reducing steel and aluminum tariffs from 50% to 15%. Is that off the table for now?
Know what we're talking about. Everything is on the table when you have such a great partner as the European Union. They have 450 million people and a $20 trillion economy. So the opportunity is great. They would like to have steel and aluminum as part of this package. And we think it is very, very important that they understand our digital companies and they reconsider their digital regulations to be more inviting to our big companies. They tend to tax our big companies, attack our big companies, and they're not getting the investment that we're getting. Right. You're seeing trillions of dollars of our tech companies investing in building data centers in America, and they're not getting them here. So we're talking to them about take your foot off the regulatory statement, build those data centers in America. And in exchange for that, we'll come up with a cool steel and aluminum deal that we'll all be together. So it's all trading. These are trade deals. We're talking about opportunities together. Let's bring it all on the table. Let's see what we can accomplish.
Secretary Lutnick, what's the threshold in terms of reducing certain regulations in Europe on US tech companies that's required in order to create some sort of framework for this deal?
Well, what the European Union does is they say, well, our digital rules, they only touch companies above a certain threshold. And of course the only companies above those thresholds are all American companies. So come on, that can't be the rule. Let's take it off. Let's settle the outstanding cases against Google and against Microsoft and against Amazon. Let's put them behind us. Let's come up with a reasonable framework where these companies can grow and build. And then those companies will agree to invest hundreds of billions of dollars of data centers here. So the idea is if they take their foot off this regulatory framework and make it more inviting for our companies, they can get the benefit of hundreds of billions, possibly $1,000,000,000,000 of investment a year. So the idea is I'm trying to convince them that winning the way Donald Trump is winning in America is the way to go. Look at America. Look at these growth rates. Come on. You realize our investment in AI CapEx last quarter exceeded consumer spending in America. We had 3.8% GDP growth. We're going to grow over 4% and next year we can grow over 5%. You got to embrace what's coming. The AI world is coming. Come on, embrace it. That's what we're here doing, trying to bring and make our deal with Europe, which was a great deal done by Donald Trump. Let's make that deal better.
Secretary Lutnick, just on that point, and point taken on what you see as the benefit to embracing that tech with the EU, over and over again has insisted that its digital laws are not up for discussion. Are you seeing any sort of relenting from them as you've been pushing it? Does it seem like they would agree to you on this point?
Well, you know, I see a lot of ministers. Remember, there's 27 countries. So some are more open-minded than others. But, you know, it's a process which is talking to them and telling them that if they want to get that kind of investment here, they've got to change the model. So there's the carrot and the stick. You know, if you keep taxing these companies, they're not going to give you the investment. So that's my job to sort of talk about it, to help those American companies find their way clear, to invest here and to grow here. And another example for them, I show them that, you know, they're ruling out clean diesel for batteries. And I try to remind them you don't make batteries in Europe. Come on, guys, don't make rules that harm yourself because you don't make batteries. That's not a good idea. Stick with clean diesel. Stick with combustion engines. Come on. Be clever about yourselves. And just common sense. This is the common sense Trump administration here in Europe trying to remind them that they have an amazing economy that can grow and build, will help them grow and build with great trade with America. But you can't be silly and sort of embrace just batteries, which you don't make in Europe. So these are the kind of conversations I have. They're pretty fun, if you ask me, because I get to point to the growth in America and say, come on, follow our lead, and we will have a bigger, better, stronger trade deal. We'll add to it, we'll add excitement to it.
But you've got to come along with the secretary in terms that's the rapid growth we've been seeing because the AI has been contributing a lot to this American economy. And as a lot has been said about the two-speed nature of it, that on one hand AI is doing well and on the other hand you have consumers that are still feeling high prices. You saw that play out through the most recent elections. There's been a renewed concentration from this Trump administration to try to reduce tariffs, especially on things like food. Food goods. Are you and the rest of this administration, as you negotiate, specifically looking at that, trying to find tariffs to bring down to lower the cost of everyday household items for American consumers?
Exactly. The Trump administration is exactly about affordability. We are going through every line item to try to make sure we can drive affordability across the American consumer landscape. Two things, though. American earnings are growing, right? The average earnings of America, their income is growing. So as that grows and we drive prices down, you're going to feel that golden age coming. So it's the combination of earnings growing and we are razor-focused on bringing down prices. That's one of the things we're doing here today, working together to try to bring down prices on average daily products. We are working on it. The Trump administration is on it. We have a clear direction from the president. We are going to lower prices and make things more affordable. Building materials are going to raise income as well.
Just to build on what he's talking about, though, there is a feeling that there is a limit to how much tariffs can go up or how much the Trump administration may have to reduce tariffs going forward in order to address some concerns about cost of living. Has that affected your negotiations at all?
No, I think it's pretty easy there. The world understands that there's give and take in these trade deals, and the benefits are clear that the Trump administration has created the greatest set of trade deals. You know, the president has talked about a $2,000 tariff dividend coming back to the American people. He got that one big, beautiful bill which is going to cut, and there's going to be significant income growth from people next year as that bill comes into play and we are going to focus on the affordability. You saw coffee and cocoa and bananas and all those kind of things. Those prices came down. You're going to see prices continuously come down, energy prices down. You're going to see affordability across the board here. Trump administration is going to win in affordability and income. Two sides of the coin. We're going to win.
