Donald Trump has named investor Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of his transition team, to lead the US commerce department.
In his announcement, Trump said Lutnick, the chief executive of financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, would spearhead the administration’s “tariff and trade agenda”.
His embrace of those views put him out of step with some on Wall Street, which has historically seen tariffs as bad for corporate America.
In the announcement, Trump called Lutnick a “dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years” and praised his transition work finding people to help staff the new administration.
He said Lutnick would also have special responsibility for the office of the US Trade Representative, which is not officially part of the Commerce department.
Howard Lutnick, an investor and co-chair of Donald Trump’s transition team, has been appointed to head the US Commerce Department.
According to Trump’s announcement, the administration’s “tariff and trade agenda” will be led by Lutnick, the CEO of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Lutnick had also been a candidate for a more prominent position, that of Treasury Secretary.
Trump still hasn’t decided on that highly anticipated position, which has broad authority over things like tax and economic policy.
The dispute over who to choose has become public. Elon Musk, a multibillionaire, criticized Scott Bessent, one of the other contenders, for being too “business as usual” and endorsed Lutnick after the weekend.
Lutnick, who calls himself a “strong capitalist,” has commended Trump for providing a “competitive growth model.”.
He acted as a spokesperson for some of Trump’s most divisive policies during the campaign, such as the removal of the income tax and broad tariffs.
His adoption of those opinions caused him to diverge from some Wall Street analysts, who have long viewed tariffs as detrimental to corporate America.
With roughly 50,000 employees, the Commerce Department is smaller than the Treasury Department.
It plays a major role in areas where national security and business interests conflict, like imposing tariffs to protect US steel or limiting technology exports to China.
The department also plays a significant role in government initiatives to support US businesses and domestic manufacturing.
Its duties include conducting the US census, publishing economic data, and approving patents, in addition to its involvement in the trade and technology war between the US and China.
Trump described Lutnick as a “dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years” in the announcement, and he commended his transition efforts in identifying personnel to assist in staffing the incoming administration.
He added that although the US Trade Representative’s office is not formally a part of the Commerce department, Lutnick would have particular responsibility for it.
Lutnick, a Trump supporter and Long Island, New York native, has been a part of the New York social scene for a long time. According to the online film and television database IMDb, he made an appearance on Trump’s reality TV program, The Apprentice, in eight years.
After graduating from Haverford College, where he received a scholarship, in 1983, he joined Cantor Fitzgerald. He lost his father to a medical error and his mother to cancer when he was a teenager.
He became the company’s president and chief executive within ten years. Its cryptocurrency investments and its real estate affiliate, the Newmark brokerage, are some of its current well-known features.
After the September 11 attacks, which claimed the lives of over 600 employees, including his brother, who were working in the company’s offices that morning, Lutnick’s public profile increased. He took one of his kids to kindergarten, so he wasn’t at work.
In the days that followed, Lutnick, who has a New York accent and is renowned for his blustery manner, sobbed on television.
According to him, the day marked a turning point in his life “before 9/11 and after,” and for years after, “it was still so raw it felt like yesterday,” in an interview with the Wall Street Journal conducted twenty years later.
