In a major pre-election move Donald Trump picked Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department: giving him extra control over trade policy
The well-known CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald dont just get one job but two — hes also getting oversight of the US Trade Representatives office which makes this move extra-interesting. Lutnick (who runs BGC Group and chairs both Newmark Group and FMX) will be central to Trumps trade agenda
The Commerce job comes with lots of power: it controls tech exports keeps an eye on the weather runs the Census and deals with ocean-stuff. But its biggest job lately is being the main tool in US-China tech fights. About 6 years ago the department helped put those metal tariffs in place; now it blocks high-tech chips from going to China
Dont tax our people Make money instead Put tariffs on China and make $400 billion
The choice means other Trump-friends missed out:
- Linda McMahon (might get Education instead)
- Robert Lighthizer (was looking at this role)
Even though Lutnickʼs firm helped a Chinese bio-tech company list on Nasdaq last year hes known to like tariffs a lot. This fits with Trumps plan to put 60% tariffs on Chinese stuff and 10-20% on other countries goods (which money-experts say will shake-up world trade big-time)
The department has been super-busy lately stopping China from getting our best tech — especially those fancy AI chips and the machines that make em. With Lutnick in charge this tech-block strategy might get even stronger