Trump Taps Wall St. Executive Howard Lutnick for Commerce Secretary

President-elect Donald J. Trump picked Howard Lutnick to serve as commerce secretary on Tuesday, tapping a billionaire Wall Street executive for one of the most prominent and increasingly powerful economic positions in the federal government.

Mr. Lutnick, the chief executive of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has emerged as a central economic adviser to Mr. Trump over the past year and has been leading his transition team. He has called for tariffs to protect U.S. industries from foreign competition, lower corporate taxes and an expansion of American energy production.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Mr. Lutnick “will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.”

Over the past two years, Mr. Lutnick has donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s super PAC, according to federal election records, and hosted a fund-raiser at his Bridgehampton, N.Y., home that raised $15 million. All told, he donated or raised more than $75 million for groups supporting Mr. Trump in the 2024 cycle, according to someone familiar with his fund-raising who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic figures.

Mr. Lutnick has been an ardent defender of Mr. Trump’s plans for imposing tariffs on imports. He has suggested, however, that they should be used to negotiate trade deals with other nations and that goods that the United States does not produce should not necessarily face tariffs.

“Donald Trump is here to protect the American worker,” Mr. Lutnick told CNBC earlier this year.

Mr. Lutnick had been under consideration to serve as Mr. Trump’s Treasury secretary and had garnered support from Elon Musk, who has become an influential adviser to the president-elect.