WASHINGTON — The US Senate confirms wealthy financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, putting in place a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump’s hardline trade polices.
At the Commerce Department, Lutnick, who was CEO at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will oversee 50,000 employees who do everything from collecting economic statistics to running the census to issuing weather reports. But he’s likely to spend a lot of time — along with Jamieson Greer, Trump’s nominee to be the top US trade negotiator — managing the president’s aggressive plans to impose import taxes on US trading partners, including allies and adversaries alike.
The Senate vote to confirm Lutnick was 51-45.
Lutnick was CEO at Cantor Fitzgerald when its offices were hit in the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. The firm lost two-thirds of its employees — 658 people — that day, including Lutnick’s brother. Howard Lutnick led the firm’s recovery and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Lutnick, who is Jewish, has promised to sell off his business holdings. They’re complicated. His financial disclosure statement shows that he had positions in more than 800 businesses and other private organizations.
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