The Senate on Tuesday night voted to confirm Howard Lutnick as Commerce secretary on Tuesday in a 51-45 party-line vote.
Lutnick, chair and CEO of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, vowed to divest his financial interests upon confirmation to remain impartial. He was a co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition team.
“We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We can use tariffs to create reciprocity,” Lutnick said at his confirmation hearing on January 29.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said in a statement he is “optimistic” that Lutnick’s experience in the private sector will be valuable as “Republicans work to reverse the last four years of economic heartache.”
