Senate confirms Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary

The Senate confirmed businessman Howard Lutnick Tuesday to be Secretary of the Department of Commerce, an important role for implementing President Donald Trump’s trade policy.

Lutnick, the billionaire CEO of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was confirmed 51-45 to run the Commerce Department, an agency broadly tasked with overseeing U.S. trade policy and advancing American business interests worldwide.

Lutnick’s confirmation was hardly in doubt given the GOP Senate majority, which has pushed to confirm Trump’s nominees as quickly as possible to allow his administration to move fast. Lutnick passed through the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this month 16-12 on his way to confirmation.

“Howard Lutnick is an excellent choice to lead the Department of Commerce, and his vast experience will serve him well in his mission to promote America’s unlimited entrepreneurial spirit. Mr. Lutnick will play a key role in unleashing unprecedented innovation and ensuring our nation’s job creators are well equipped to expand opportunities for good-paying jobs,” Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said upon announcing Lutnick’s confirmation hearing.

Given his business portfolio, Lutnick promised during his confirmation hearing to divest from his holdings if confirmed. Lutnick’s financial disclosure showed ties to at least 800 firms and more than $350 million of income, distributions, and bonuses over the past two years, according to the New York Times.

“I’ve worked together with the Office of Government Ethics, and we’ve reached agreement on how to do that, and I will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation,” Lutnick said.

Lutnick famously rebuilt Cantor Fitzgerald after hundreds of company employees were killed on 9/11 inside the World Trade Center. He and the other company employees provided support for the families of the deceased employees and the company has since grown to be much larger than it was on that fateful day.

A close advisor to Trump, Lutnick helped lead the president’s transition team and has defended Trump’s plans to enact sweeping tariffs on U.S. imports. He and Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury Secretary, have both stood by the president’s aggressive tariff plans and argued that they will not generate price increases for American consumers.

Already, Trump has moved to impose 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, only to delay his plans after both nations agreed to provide the U.S. with greater border security assistance. Although Trump will be the final decision maker, Lutnick will be in charge of fine-tuning the details of implementation and handling potential exemptions.

Trump signed a memo last week ordering his administration to develop a plan for rebalancing American trade and enacting reciprocal tariffs on U.S. trading partners who are not opening their markets. Tariffs have been a signature policy proposal of Trump’s for his entire political career and were a staple of his first term.