Trump picks pro-tariff billionaire Howard Lutnick for US commerce secretary
Al Jazeera
US president-elect nominates Lutnick, a Wall Street investment firm CEO, to lead his ‘tariff and trade agenda’.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Howard Lutnick, a billionaire and head of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, as the next US secretary of commerce.
In a statement on Tuesday, Trump hailed Lutnick – who has served as co-chair of the Republican’s transition team – as “a dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years”.
“He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said.
The nomination is the latest from Trump, who has named a growing list of Republican allies and other loyalists to cabinet posts since he won the November 5 presidential election over Democrat Kamala Harris.
As commerce secretary, Lutnick would be 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.
