How Howard Lutnick Could Shake Up Global Trade

DealBook|How Howard Lutnick Could Shake Up Global Trade

Lutnick’s big new portfolio

As one of Donald Trump’s transition chiefs, Howard Lutnick had a big say in shaping the next administration. Now he has been picked for a post of his own: commerce secretary.

The role puts the Wall Street billionaire in charge of defending American business interests worldwide and overseeing increasingly critical technology export restrictions — duties that matter for an America First-minded president-elect promising a barrage of more tariffs.

Commerce secretary has become an increasingly important policy role. The current office holder, Gina Raimondo, has overseen a remaking of American industrial policy via her oversight of the CHIPS and Science Act, which has doled out billions in funding to chipmakers to bolster domestic manufacturing, and artificial intelligence regulations.

And in announcing that he had picked Lutnick for the role, Trump said that the commerce secretary would have “additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.” Washington insiders are speculating that the phrase means that Trump may try to fold the latter position within the Commerce Department, a move that has been tried before to combine government trade work.

Lutnick has been a Trump loyalist, having been a prolific donor and supporter of the Republican’s agenda, especially for more and bigger tariffs. He has also become close to Elon Musk, one of Trump’s closest advisers — and, given the Commerce Department’s role in expanding broadband internet access — could provide the tech mogul’s Starlink with a significant boost.

But Lutnick has faced questions about conflicts of interest. His business interests, including the Wall Street brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, touch on many sectors ranging from commercial real estate to crypto, which could be affected by a wide area of government regulations.