Trump announces Howard Lutnick as his pick for Commerce secretary

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as his pick for Commerce secretary.

CNN previously reported the job would go to Lutnick, who has been co-chairing Trump’s transition effort.

Trump in a statement said Lutnick would “lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.” Trump has promised sweeping tariffs when he is sworn into office.

Lutnick had been in battle with hedge fund manager Scott Bessent over the role of Treasury secretary after throwing his own name into the mix for the Cabinet position.

In being tapped for Commerce, Lutnick edged out Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative during Trump’s first term, and Linda McMahon, an administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019, for the role.

What the role involves: The Commerce secretary is tasked with supporting US businesses and often acts as an emissary between other nations to negotiate trade deals and increase foreign investment. There are 13 bureaus housed under the Commerce Department, including the Census Bureau, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Patent and Trademark Office.

Project 2025 — the controversial blueprint for a newly reimagined federal government that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign despite numerous ties to its authors — called for NOAA to be “broken up and downsized” and said the agency was part of the “climate change alarm industry.”

The Commerce secretary often works hand-in-hand with other members of the president’s Cabinet tasked with carrying out and advising on economic policy. During Trump’s first term, then-Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was heavily involved in the heated trade war with China and was a key advocate for levying higher tariffs on the nation.