WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump named billionaire Howard Lutnick, a New York businessman and longtime friend, to be his nominee for commerce secretary. Lutnick has helped lead Trump’s transition team since it was formed this summer.

“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 Tuesday. “In his role as the Co-Chair of the Trump-Vance Transition Team, Howard has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen.”

What You Need To Know

  • President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Howard Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary
  • The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial
  • Lutnick is a co-chair of Trump’s transition operation, helping to find the team that will work in the next administration
  • Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 of its 960 New York-based employees — including his brother and best friend — to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, where the firm was headquartered
  • He has donated to both Democrats and Republicans in the past, once appeared on Trump’s NBC reality show, “The Apprentice,” and has become a part of the president-elect’s inner circle; he shared the stage with Trump at events in the closing days of his campaign, including at a rally at Madison Square Garden

The Trump transition team praised Lutnick as “a dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years” and noted the brokerage and investment bank he helms, Cantor Fitzgerald, lost 658 of its 960 New York-based employees — including his brother and best friend — to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, where the firm was headquartered. 

Lutnick has donated to both Democrats and Republicans in the past, once appeared on Trump’s NBC reality show, “The Apprentice,” and has become a part of the president-elect’s inner circle. He shared the stage with Trump at events in the closing days of his campaign, including at a rally at Madison Square Garden.

The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial.

An advocate for imposing wide-ranging tariffs, Lutnick told CNBC in September that “tariffs are an amazing tool for the president to use — we need to protect the American worker." Trump on the campaign trail proposed a 60% tariff on goods from China — and a tariff of up to 20% on everything else the United States imports.

Mainstream economists are generally skeptical of tariffs, considering them a mostly inefficient way for governments to raise money and promote prosperity.

Lutnick had been considered for treasury secretary, a role that has been at the center of high-profile jockeying within the Trump world. At the same time, the treasury position is closely watched in financial circles, where a disruptive nominee could have immediate negative consequences on the stock market, which Trump watches closely.