Howard Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, speaks during a rally for Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump, at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, USA October 27, 2024.
Carlos Barria Reuters
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump has said he will nominate key transition adviser and billionaire financial services executive Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department, according to two sources familiar with the process.
“He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said in a statement announcing the selection.
Cantor Fitzgerald’s CEO has led and is the public face of the Trump transition.
It is not yet clear what his selection for Cabinet posts will mean for his role in the transition going forward.
As co-chair of Trump’s transition, Lutnick has been an outspoken advocate for the agenda, including explaining how the president-elect plans to use tariffs once in office. Lutnick is CEO and chairman of financial services titan Cantor Fitzgerald. The Commerce Department will play a key role in implementing some of Trump’s proposed tariffs on goods imported into the United States.
Lutnick has been with Cantor Fitzgerald since the early 1980s when he graduated from Haverford College in Pennsylvania with a degree in economics. He suffered great personal tragedy at a young age, losing his mother while still in high school and his father during his first week of college. Lutnick was working at Cantor Fitzgerald when terrorists targeted the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11, 2001, the firm’s headquarters. Hundreds of Cantor Fitzgerald employees, including Lutnick’s brother, were killed.
After the attack, Lutnick became an outspoken advocate for the business community as New York worked to rebuild.
The commerce secretary’s announcement follows days of speculation about who could fill the remaining top Cabinet posts in the incoming Trump administration, including treasury secretary, for whom Lutnick is considered a top contender. Lutnick’s selection was first reported by Punchbowl News.
Officials for the transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It remains unclear who Trump will choose to head the Treasury Department, a role for which Lutnick drew public support over the weekend from Elon Musk, the billionaire who was recently tapped to head the new ‘Department of Government Efficiency’.
Musk has been at Mar-a-Lago since the election, indicating his closeness to Trump.
