Billionaire businessman Howard Lutnick, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Commerce Department, outlined his vision for the role during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

In a generally nonconfrontational, and at times even jovial, hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Lutnick was asked about an array of policy matters, including tariffs, China, inflation, and more.

Lutnick, 63, is the chairman and CEO of financial services giant Cantor Fitzgerald. He joined the firm right after college and eventually became president and CEO of the firm in 1991 and chairman of the board a few years later. He was a close economic adviser to Trump on the campaign trail and was in contention to lead the Treasury Department, although Scott Bessent ended up getting nominated.

Of note, the billionaire pledged that he would divest himself of all business interests should he win confirmation of the role within 90 days of being confirmed as commerce secretary.

“I’ve made the decision that I’ve made enough money in my life. … It’s now my chance to serve the American people,” he told lawmakers.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the Capitol Hill hearing.

Tariffs

The president has vowed to impose a more aggressive tariff policy in his second term. While he didn’t issue sweeping tariffs his first week in office, as some had expected, his administration is studying the matter and developing a course of action. Lutnick will play a key role in that implementation.

Sen. Gary Peters (R-MI) expressed concerns about tariffs against Canada and said Michigan automakers are fearful that “seamless” trade with China could hurt the industry.

Lutnick noted that longer-run tariff policy will be closely studied but noted that Trump threatened tariffs because of illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl coming across the northern border. He said in the short term that tariffs could be used as a stick to coerce Canada to close its border and stop the flow of deadly narcotics into the United States.

“Our trading partners in Canada and Mexico, they should end it and stop disrespecting us and allowing this to come through our borders,” Lutnick said.

Lutnick also highlighted the importance of bringing back domestic manufacturing to the U.S., especially in places like Michigan.

Throughout the hearing, Lutnick made a point of not getting into specific minutiae of tariff policy. He highlighted Trump’s executive order ordering research to be done into how to best implement the tariff agenda and said he was awaiting the results of that research.

Lutnick also spoke in support of reciprocal tariffs. On the campaign trail, Trump reiterated his desire for Congress to pass the Reciprocal Trade Act, which allows the president unilaterally to impose tariffs of equal size of any tariffs placed by other countries on the U.S.

“We need to be treated with respect, and we can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness, and respect,” Lutnick said.

Inflation

One of the biggest arguments against tariffs is that they will put further pressure on inflation, which has plagued the U.S. for nearly four years now. The idea is that the costs from the tariffs are simply passed along to consumers through higher prices. Lutnick pushed back on that notion on Wednesday.

“A particular product’s price may go up, but all of them — it is not inflationary. The two top countries with tariffs, India and China, have the most tariffs and no inflation,” he said. “It’s just a nonsense that tariffs cause inflation. It’s nonsense.”

CHIPS

Lutnick was asked about the CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden and boosted domestic research and funding for semiconductor chip manufacturing.

The nominee said he supports the bipartisan legislation but said he intends to review it once in office and study the matter more closely.

“It is vital for America that we bring semiconductor manufacturing to the United States of America,” Lutnick said. “We need domestic manufacturing. The CHIPS Act was an excellent down payment to begin that process.”

China

Trump has made competition against China a top priority and has vowed to take a hard line against Beijing with tariffs. China is also a top competitor against the U.S. on the technology front, and Lutnick fielded several questions about global competition.

“I take a very jaundiced view of China,” Lutnick told lawmakers. “I think they only care about themselves and seek to harm us. And so we need to protect ourselves. We need to drive our innovation.”

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) noted that China is the leader in a number of patents in critical and emerging technologies and pointed out a backlog in patent applications in the U.S. Lutnick said he will work in the pursuit of a “rigorous” reduction in that backlog.

He also said that he thinks tariffs on China and other adversaries should be higher than the tariffs the U.S. imposes on other countries.

AI and DeepSeek

Lutnick also committed to improving artificial intelligence innovation in the U.S.

Recently, a Chinese company called DeepSeek unveiled a new AI model that it claims performs on par with U.S. models produced by OpenAI — but at a fraction of the cost. One of the DeepSeek AI models then became the No. 1 download in the Apple store for iPhone.

The release sent shockwaves through the technology sector and caused U.S. chip maker Nvidia’s stock to plunge. Nvidia’s stock has plunged 15% in just the past five days alone. There are still many questions surrounding DeepSeek and AI coming out of China.

Lutnick said it is “nonsense” to think that DeepSeek did everything aboveboard in developing the technology and said the U.S. must stay in the lead when it comes to global AI competitiveness.

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“What this showed is that our export controls not backed by tariffs are like a whack-a-mole model where they get prevented over here and China figures out a way around it over there,” Lutnick said. “We’ve got to find a way to back our export controls with tariff models so that we tell China, you think we are your most important trading partner? When we say no, the answer is no. It’s a respect thing.”

He also said he thinks the U.S. is regulating its own AI activities at the expense of China taking the lead and making breakthroughs in the AI space.