The Wall Street billionaire executive will lead a study on reciprocal tariffs as one of his first duties.
Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Commerce, has been confirmed by the Senate in a 51–45 vote.
Prior to the upper chamber vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) touted Lutnick’s success on Wall Street and his work with Sept. 11 survivors.
“I am glad President Trump has chosen an outcome-driven leader,” Thune said in prepared remarks.
“Howard Lutnick’s greatest business achievement is not building his own success or building up a company; it was rebuilding Cantor Fitzgerald.” The headquarters of the financial services firm was in the North Tower of the World Trade Center, just above the impact site of one of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. All of its 658 employees in the office that day died.
Thune called Lutnick’s story inspiring as he gave surviving staff an option: either attend 20 funerals a day for the next month or work hard to rebuild the firm. Employees agreed to donate a quarter of their salaries to the 658 families of their colleagues with no limit and no expectations to be repaid.
“It’s a lesson in resilience, determination in the American spirit, and it demonstrates the type of person Howard Lutnick is, and the type of public servant that he’ll be,” Thune said.
Lutnick passed a crucial procedural vote in the upper chamber on Feb. 13 as senators advanced his nomination in a 52-45 vote.
A week earlier, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 16-12 to send the billionaire CEO to the procedural vote. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voted with all Republicans in support of Lutnick.
In his Jan. 29 appearance before the committee, Lutnick championed Trump’s trade agenda, stating that the United States needs to demand fairness and reciprocity in global trade.
“They treat us poorly,” Lutnick told lawmakers of U.S. trading partners. “We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers, and subsidies.”
Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, advocated for across-the-board tariffs instead of targeted levies. He believes a targeted approach would result in “picking on farmers.”
By Andrew Moran
