President-elect Donald Trump has named Howard Lutnick—the CEO recognized 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 group, will lead the incoming administration’s course on tariffs and commerce and keep direct accountability over the Workplace of United States Commerce Consultant, Trump introduced in a submit on Reality Social on Tuesday.
Lutnick, a longtime New York energy participant, grew to become President and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Road funding banking and monetary companies agency, within the early 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 develop into a high financial adviser.
Lutnick was one of many major voices in Trump’s camp advocating for greater 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 job that is still 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 mother and father 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 way to the top” as Cantor was on his deathbed—and 5 years after that, he grew to become chairman.
“There is no sugar-coating the fact that before, and even after, Sept. 11, Mr. Lutnick was widely disliked in the industry,” Suzanne Craig wrote within the New York Instances in 2011. “A ruthless competitor even by Wall Street standards, he has made more than a few enemies over the years. In 1996, as Mr. Cantor, his mentor, lay dying, Mr. Lutnick fought with Mr. Cantor’s wife, Iris, for control 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 one hundred and first by a hundred and fifth flooring of the World Commerce Heart’s north tower; the hijacked flight hit flooring 93 by 99, leaving these on the Cantor flooring with no approach of escaping.
Each single employee who had been within the workplace—658 staff—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 staff 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 chopping off paychecks to the agency’s deceased staff. He later pledged 25% of the agency’s earnings 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 the moment, Lutnick stands as one in every 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 companies firm, with eSpeed, an digital bond buying and selling platform, in addition to taken Rumble, a video platform, public through particular function acquisition firm (SPAC). Earlier this yr, by BCG Group—of which Lutnick can be CEO—he unveiled a futures change known 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 along 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 among Trump’s major speaking factors all through his marketing campaign has been his dedication to elevating tariffs. As commerce secretary, Lutnick will likely be nearer to that promise than some other appointee.
“Tariffs are an amazing tool [for] the president to use,” Lutnick instructed CNBC in October, arguing that the Trump administration will use tariffs to “build.”
“If we want to make it in America, tariff it, or if we’re competing with it, tariff it,” he added.
Lutnick has develop into more and more near Elon Musk, one other key Trump adviser, The New York Instances identified, “and, given the Commerce Department’s role in expanding broadband internet access, [Lutnick] could provide the tech mogul’s Starlink with a significant boost.”
As a part of the transition group, Lutnick has been instrumental in recruiting and hiring. He has promised to do the identical as a member of the administration, NPR reported—completely “stacking” the group with “loyalists.”
Many, nevertheless, have voiced concern over Lutnick’s potential conflicts of curiosity, together with relating to cryptocurrency; Cantor Fitzgerald, manages a handful of reserve funds for Tether, a stablecoin.
