President-elect Donald Trump has named Howard Lutnick—the CEO identified for his sharp-elbowed ascent to Wall Road’s higher echelon, in addition to his resilience after the 9/11 assaults devastated his firm—as his decide for Secretary of Commerce.
Within the new function, Lutnick, who has co-chaired Trump’s transition staff, will lead the incoming administration’s course on tariffs and commerce and preserve direct duty over the Workplace of United States Commerce Consultant, Trump introduced in a publish on Reality Social on Tuesday.
Lutnick, a longtime New York energy participant, turned President and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Road funding banking and monetary providers agency, within the early Nineteen Nineties at simply 29 years previous.
All through Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign, Lutnick—who has donated over $1 million to Trump’s tremendous PAC and hosted a $15 million fundraiser at his Hamptons home this summer time—has grow to be a prime financial adviser.
Lutnick was one of many main voices in Trump’s camp advocating for larger tariffs, in a bid to slash company taxes stateside and insulate U.S.-based enterprise from competitors abroad.
For months, many suspected Trump would faucet Lutnick for Treasury Secretary, a task that continues to be unfilled.
A consultant for Lutnick didn’t instantly reply to Fortune’s request for remark.
Who’s Howard Lutnick?
Lutnick, 63, climbed the enterprise ladder shortly, however he didn’t have a straightforward begin: Each his dad and mom had died by the point he was 18, leaving him and his two siblings to fend for themselves.
The New York native joined Cantor Fitzgerald as a bond dealer shortly after graduating school and shortly shaped a detailed mentor-mentee relationship with the agency’s founder, Bernard Cantor.
Eight years after becoming a member of, Lutnick was named Cantor Fitzgerald’s president and CEO of the corporate—having reportedly “elbowed his option to the highest” as Cantor was on his deathbed—and 5 years after that, he turned chairman.
“There isn’t any sugar-coating the truth that earlier than, and even after, Sept. 11, Mr. Lutnick was extensively disliked within the trade,” Suzanne Craig wrote within the New York Instances in 2011. “A ruthless competitor even by Wall Road requirements, he has made various enemies over time. In 1996, as Mr. Cantor, his mentor, lay dying, Mr. Lutnick fought with Mr. Cantor’s spouse, Iris, for management of Cantor Fitzgerald. She later barred him from the funeral.”
Cantor Fitzgerald was brutalized by the 9/11 assaults. The agency was headquartered on the a hundred and first by means of one hundred and fifth flooring of the World Commerce Heart’s north tower; the hijacked flight hit flooring 93 by means of 99, leaving these on the Cantor flooring with no method of escaping.
Each single employee who had been within the workplace—658 workers—died that morning, representing almost 70% of the agency’s headcount. Lutnick was dropping his son off at kindergarten that morning and wasn’t within the workplace, however his youthful brother Gary, additionally a Cantor worker, was killed. Cantor workers represented almost 1 in 4 of the victims killed in New York that day.
Inside per week, Lutnick returned to the buying and selling desk and, amid widespread criticism, introduced the agency can be slicing off paychecks to the agency’s deceased workers. He later pledged 25% of the agency’s income over the following decade to their subsequent of kin, together with ongoing medical health insurance protection. He additionally gave them $90 million from his personal private financial savings.
At this time, Lutnick stands as certainly one of Wall Road’s longest-serving CEOs, with 41 years on the helm of Cantor Fitzgerald. Throughout his tenure, Lutnick has overseen the $1.3 billion merger of BGC Companions, a monetary providers firm, with eSpeed, an digital bond buying and selling platform, in addition to taken Rumble, a video platform, public by way of particular objective acquisition firm (SPAC). Earlier this 12 months, by means of BCG Group—of which Lutnick can also be CEO—he unveiled a futures trade referred to as FMX, which counts Morgan Stanley, Citi and Goldman Sachs amongst its fairness companions. In the meantime, his financial stake within the firm is about 60%, up from 25% 20 years in the past.
Over the previous few months, Lutnick has balanced his CEO duties together with his Trump marketing campaign management by working for Cantor between 6:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., after which from 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., with Trump time in between, the Wall Road Journal reported.
Trump hopes Lutnick will take the reins on tariffs—and stack the brand new administration with “loyalists”
One in every of Trump’s main speaking factors all through his marketing campaign has been his dedication to elevating tariffs. As commerce secretary, Lutnick might be nearer to that promise than some other appointee.
“Tariffs are a tremendous device [for] the president to make use of,” Lutnick informed CNBC in October, arguing that the Trump administration will use tariffs to “construct.”
“If we need to make it in America, tariff it, or if we’re competing with it, tariff it,” he added.
Lutnick has grow to be more and more near Elon Musk, one other key Trump adviser, The New York Instances identified, “and, given the Commerce Division’s function in increasing broadband web entry, [Lutnick] might present the tech mogul’s Starlink with a big enhance.”
As a part of the transition staff, Lutnick has been instrumental in recruiting and hiring. He has promised to do the identical as a member of the administration, NPR reported—solely “stacking” the staff with “loyalists.”
Many, nevertheless, have voiced concern over Lutnick’s potential conflicts of curiosity, together with concerning cryptocurrency; Cantor Fitzgerald, manages a handful of reserve funds for Tether, a stablecoin.