President-elect Trump has chosen billionaire investor Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of his transition team, to serve as commerce secretary. Lutnick, CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has been advising Trump on economic matters and is a strong supporter of policies including tariffs and lower corporate taxes, the New York Times reports. Trump announced the pick in a Truth Social post, saying Lutnick "will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative."
If confirmed Lutnick will succeed Gina Raimondo as leader of what the AP describes as a "sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data, and monitoring the weather." Lutnick, a major Trump donor and fundraiser, was also under consideration for Treasury secretary—a more powerful role—and had the support of Elon Musk. Insiders tell the Times that the competition for the Treasury job is like a "knife fight" and Trump privately complained that Lutnick was trying to manipulate the nomination process.
In his Truth Social post, Trump described Lutnick as a "dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years." The 63-year-old, who was orphaned as a teenager, attended Haverford College on a scholarship and joined Cantor Fitzgerald after he graduated in 1983. He became CEO when he was 29 years old. The company lost 658 of its 960 New York-based employees in the 9/11 attacks, including Lutnick's brother, Trump wrote. "He emerged from these events with an indominable sense of purpose to rebuild the firm to honor those lost, support their families, and become a beacon of hope for those who remained," Trump wrote. (More President-elect Trump stories.)
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