Everything indicates that Howard Lutnick will be the new US Secretary of Commerce in the new Trump administration. Lutnick, CEO of the investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald since 1991is described in the American media as a “hawk” regarding China and showed clear support for Trump’s tariff agenda on the campaign trail.
“I am delighted to announce that Howard Lutnick, President and CEO of Cantor Fitzgeraldwill join my administration as United States Secretary of Commerce. “He will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump posted in a message on his social network Truth Social.
Previously, the name of Robert Lighthizer both to serve as Secretary of Commerce and to return to the position of U.S. Trade Representative, a position he already held under Trump. Lighthizer also perfectly sums up Trump’s tariff impulses and demonstrated it with China before the pandemic. However, the fact that Trump has so far opted for Lutnick, in addition to giving him direct responsibility for the office of the US Trade Representative, leaves doubt over Lighthizer’s future.
Lutnick, from 63 years oldis one of Trump’s most prominent supporters on Wall Street, strengthening his approach to the financial community and endorsing his populist agenda. He traveled the country in support of the president-elect, lamented the movement of American manufacturing jobs overseas, denounced the “coastal elite’s nonsense” about electric cars, and called high inflation “the worst thing.” meanest thing that can be done to people.” . As co-chair of Trump’s transition teamLutnick played a front-line role in preparing the new president to return to power and advance his conservative agenda with a team of like-minded loyalists.
A graduate of Haverford College, Lutnick joined Cantor Fitzgerald in 1983 and became president and CEO in 1991, according to his biography on the company’s website. His brother Gary Lutnick was one of 658 Cantor employees who died in the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Lutnick was credited with rebuilding the devastated company.
That day, invited to reality show of Trump, Celebrity Apprenticesits at the center of many concentric circles of money and power in the president-elect’s orbit, more so than many other Wall Street executives. And he occupies a key place in the ecosystem surrounding Trump and his followers. Make America Great Again in his role as transitional president.
The announcement partly ends a days-long public battle between hedge fund manager Scott Bessent and Lutnick, a candidate for Treasury secretary. Lutnick had deserved the support from Elon Muskthe billionaire businessman posting on X this weekend that Cantor CEO Fitzgerald “would really embrace a change.”
THE internal struggles had frustrated Trump, who is currently considering other candidates for the top economic post, according to people familiar with the matter. The president-elect is expected to meet with former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh in a day or two, reports Bloomberg. Apollo CEO Marc Rowan and Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty are also being considered for Treasury, according to people familiar with the negotiations. Bessent spoke with Trump last week about serving as director of the Treasury and the National Economic Council.
Lutnick often appeared in speculations for Treasury Secretarywhich means Trump’s list will likely shrink. “Trump picks investor Lutnick for Commerce Secretary, where (if confirmed) he will oversee increases in consumer taxes represented by tariffs. Obviously, this means Lutnick is not in vying to be Secretary of the Treasury, and “The question of who signs the dollar bills issues such as the independence of the Federal Reserve and trade tariffs make this nomination important for the markets”, they point out of the ‘UBS.
Order on rates and statistics
Trump’s announcement of the trade choice gives Lutnick broad authority over the White House’s trade and tariff agenda, a central pillar of the president-elect’s economic plan. Trump proposed imposing universal tariffs of 10% or 20% on all importsand up to 60% on imports from China, a major supplier to the United States. Other possible targets for tariff increases are vehicles from Mexico and countries abandoning the U.S. dollar.
Some economists predict that Trump’s tariff proposals could inflationary effects for consumers. However, although the previous president imposed 25% tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods during his first term, the ultimate impact remains unclear. President Joe Biden left most of Trump’s tariffs in place, even adding some additional tax increases on semiconductors and electric vehicles from China.
The Ministry of Commerce, which serves as link between the federal government and the private sectorwill play a key role in facilitating Trump’s policies. Under the Biden administration, the Commerce Department has been busy implementing a number of industrial policy bills, including allocating federal funds to semiconductor manufacturing.
The Ministry of Commerce is also the parent agency of the Bureau of Economic Analysis -which produces the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) deflator, as well as the Census Bureau, which is responsible for publishing its eponymous survey, as well as other reports on the state of the ‘economy.
