President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he has selected Howard Lutnick, a Wall Street executive, transition team leader and cryptocurrency fan, to serve as commerce secretary.
Lutnick is head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chairs Trump's transition team along with Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, per The Associated Press.
Lutnick would oversee a Cabinet agency with 51,000 people, an $11 million budget and a mission to promote U.S. industry and influence decisions ranging from the manufacturing sector to trade restrictions and technology regulation.
The agency would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans for tariffs, which the president-elect has suggested expanding significantly and companies have said could increase consumer prices.
Lutnick had been considered for Treasury secretary, a position Trump has not announced yet.
Lutnick has donated $1 million to Trump's super PAC in recent years, The New York Times reported — one of many commerce secretaries that have donated to presidential campaigns.
He could face questions over potential conflicts. Lutnick still runs financial firms that serve corporate clients and cryptocurrency platforms, and as commerce secretary he would help select leaders of agencies that regulate those firms, the Times reported.
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