Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street veteran and billionaire investor, has been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to occupy the cabinet position of commerce secretary.
Trump’s Rationale
The next president tapped Lutnick to lead his tariff and trade agenda moving forward. Specifically, Trump expects Lutnick to reinforce the imposition of tariffs he touted during his campaign. Lutnick strongly supports the soon-to-be president’s ambitions.
Additionally, Lutnick gained a respected reputation on Wall Street for turning tragedy into triumph. He led the reconstruction of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald following the September 11 terrorist attacks, which destroyed the company’s north tower offices and killed nearly 700 employees. More recently, Lutnick’s popularity and notoriety increased as co-chair of Trump’s transition team. Some government observers even suggested that Lutnick was a candidate for the position of treasury secretary.
Ending the Waste Mandate
Trump is adamant about his desire to scale back the federal government and wasteful spending. If confirmed to his new role, Lutnick will play a major part in this process and enthusiastically looks forward to the challenge.
“How much do you think we can rip out of this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?” Lutnick asked Elon Musk, another major supporter of Trump at a rally inside New York City’s Madison Square Garden last month.
Inspired by Tragedy
Lutnick is no stranger to working under trying circumstances. While many know of his role in Cantor Fitzgerald’s recovery, fewer know about his personal connection to the tragic events of September 11. His brother Gary was among the company’s employees killed on that tragic day. That said, he took charge with a positive, can-do attitude.
“If we are going to go to work, we’re going to do it to take care of our friends,” Lutnick mentioned in a 2016 interview with National Public Radio regarding what he told the company’s remaining workforce following the tragedy. “We went from being a great company that was making a million dollars a day to a company that was losing a million dollars a day.”
Today, Cantor has reinvented itself and then some. Now, the company even oversees a cryptocurrency operation.
Some question if taking the major cabinet office is a conflict of interest given his current role and might interfere with his capacity to make impartial decisions designed to benefit the nation as a whole. Lutnick takes the criticism in stride, claiming he is fully committed to his new intended position.
In Line with Trump’s Policies
Lutnick promises to appoint individuals loyal to the next leader when the new administration commences. Moreover, he proudly supports Trump’s policies, most notably regarding the imposition of tariffs, passing tax cuts, and supporting the continued evolution of the cryptocurrency movement.
At the aforementioned New York City rally, Lutnick vowed to take the United States’s economy back to the prominence it enjoyed more than a century ago—around 1900—when the nation enjoyed major financial strength, levied no income tax, and imposed a plethora of tariffs.
“When was America great?” Lutnick asked the crowd. “At the turn of the century, our economy was rocking.”
A Challenging Job Lies Ahead
Lutnick faces significant challenges in his new role. He stands to oversee a government entity charged with duties such as calculating the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and selling its exports. The latter task may prove an even greater challenge given the president-elect’s threats to levy tariffs on imported products.
Lutnick may also be a key figure in the proposed Project 2025, a plan drafted by several of Trump’s associates that calls for potentially unpopular actions such as the dismantling of certain entities overseen by the commerce department like the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
