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Howard Lutnick, the wealthy financier Trump has picked to lead the Commerce Department, said he favored “across the board” tariffs and faced grilling about his financial ties in a nomination hearing Wednesday.
By Ana Swanson
Ana Swanson covers trade and the Commerce Department.
- Jan. 29, 2025Updated 12:38 p.m. ET
Howard Lutnick, a wealthy donor to President Trump who has been picked to lead the Commerce Department, defended Mr. Trump’s plans to impose broad tariffs and said he would take a tough stance on technology sales to China during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
If confirmed, Mr. Lutnick would lead on trade policy and oversee a broad portfolio of government programs touching on business promotion, technology and science. He told lawmakers that he favored “across the board” tariffs to equal out America’s trading relationships. He insisted that tariffs would not be inflationary, in contrast to forecasts by many economists.
Mr. Lutnick said that American farmers, ranchers and fishers were being “treated with disrespect around the world.”
“We need that disrespect to end. And I think tariffs are a way to create reciprocity, to be treated fairly, to be treated appropriately, and I think it will help our farmers, our ranchers and our fishermen to flourish,” he said.
Asked about China’s recent advances in artificial intelligence, Mr. Lutnick said he would take a tough stance on the department’s oversight of technology sales to China. He said that the recent A.I. technology released by Chinese firm DeepSeek had been underpinned by Meta’s open platform and chips sold by the U.S. firm Nvidia.
“We need to stop helping them,” he said. “I’m going to be very strong on that.”
Mr. Lutnick also told lawmakers that he planned to “study” a $50 billion program created by Congress to bolster U.S. semiconductor manufacturing, but that he would get the money out the door “appropriately” and “correctly.” Mr. Trump has recently described the program, known as the CHIPS Act, as a waste of money.
