Howard Lutnick, left, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday to be Commerce secretary in Trump's second administration. Lutnick is shown in this photo at a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk on Oct. 27, 2024. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday he will nominate transition co-chair and billionaire businessman Howard Lutnick as the country’s next secretary of Commerce, a position that will have a hand in shaping Trump’s tariff policies.

If confirmed by the Senate, Lutnick would lead a 13-bureau department that houses the U.S. International Trade Commission, where tariff policy is managed. Trump campaigned on levying at least 10% tariffs on all foreign products and steep targeted tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports upwards of 60%.

“He will lead our Tariff and Trade Agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative,” Trump said in a brief statement on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Trump also praised Lutnick’s role on his transition team, crediting him with creating “the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen.”

Lutnick is CEO of the large financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, which lost more than 650 employees in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center. Lutnick became known for rebuilding the company afterward and establishing a multimillion-dollar fund for the victims’ families.

The CEO is a backer of cryptocurrency and reportedly was in the running for Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary, though according to The Bulwark, lost the bid because he annoyed advisers at Mar-a-Lago. Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been tapped by Trump to lead a not-yet-defined commission to evaluate government spending, backed Lutnick for the Treasury post.

Lutnick was a featured speaker at Trump’s October Madison Square Garden campaign rally, an event infamous for a comedian calling Puerto Rico “an island of garbage” and where former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson joked about Vice President Kamala Harris’ race.

“We must elect Donald J. Trump president because we must crush jihad,” Lutnick said on stage after telling the story of losing employees on 9/11.

During his speech, Lutnick assailed income taxes and advocated for a return to the “rockin’” U.S. economy at the turn of the 20th century.

“All we had was tariffs, and we had so much money that we had the  greatest businessmen of America get together to try to figure out how to spend it,” Lutnick said.

The United States is now “letting the rest of the world eat our lunch,” Lutnick said.

Lutnick, who spoke before Musk took the stage, introduced the fellow billionaire as “the greatest capitalist in the United States of America” and bantered with him about cutting $2 trillion in federal spending.

Economists across the political spectrum warn increasing tariffs will cost typical American households up to $2,600 annually and potentially cause a trade war.