Trump names Lutnick to head commerce and trade

Washington, Nov 20 US President-elect Donald Trump named Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, as his nominee for secretary of commerce with additional charge as the country’s top trade negotiator.

Lutnick is also co-chair of the Trump transition team.

“I am thrilled to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my Administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce,” Trump said in a statement on Tuesday.

“He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.”

Lutnick was also in the running for the position of Secretary of Treasury, but that battle is now being fought by other contenders, who were being vetted by the President-elect through personal interviews.

If confirmed, Lutnick will be the US counterpart of Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, and they will together lead a robust set of engagements between the two countries in bilateral trade and commerce.

And should the Trump administration decide to pick up the trade deal it was working on with India during President Trump’s first term, Lutnick and Goyal will be the officials leading the negotiations. Goyal’s current counterparts are Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

The Trump transition team announcement described Lutnick as “a dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years.” He started out in Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial institution, in 1983, and rose “rapidly” through the ranks to become President and CEO at the age of 29.

The firm, located in the World Trade Center, faced a devastating tragedy on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the building. It lost 658 of its 960 New York-based employees, including both Lutnick’s brother and his best friend.

“He emerged from these events with an indomitable sense of purpose to rebuild the firm to honour those lost, support their families, and become a beacon of hope for those who remained. He was an inspiration to the World - The embodiment of resilience in the face of unspeakable tragedy.”

Lutnick is on the board of directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and Weill Cornell Medicine. He was named the Financial Times’ Person of the Year in 2001 and Ernst & Young’s United States Entrepreneur of the Year in 2010.

Howard also received the Department of the Navy’s Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honour granted to non-military personnel by the Navy, the Trump transition team said in the announcement.