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Senate confirms Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, a key role for Trump's trade agenda

By PAUL WISEMAN - Feb 18, 2025, 07:36 PM ET
Last Updated - Feb 18, 2025, 11:08 PM EST
Trump
Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick speaks in the Oval Office of the White House after President Donald Trump signed an executive order, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The Senate has confirmed wealthy financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate confirmed wealthy financier Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary Tuesday, putting in place a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump's hardline trade polices.

At the Commerce Department, Lutnick, who was CEO at the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will oversee 50,000 employees who do everything from collecting economic statistics to running the census to issuing weather reports. But he's likely to spend a lot of time — along with Jamieson Greer, Trump's nominee to be the top U.S. trade negotiator — managing the president's aggressive plans to impose import taxes on U.S. trading partners, including allies and adversaries alike.

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The Sentae vote to confirm Lutnick was 51-45.

Trump views the tariffs as a versatile economic tool. They can raise money to finance his tax cuts elsewhere, protect U.S. industries and pressure other countries into making concessions on such issues as their own trade barriers, immigration and drug trafficking. Mainstream economists mostly view tariffs as counterproductive: They are paid by import companies in the United States, which try to pass along the higher costs to consumers and can thereby add to inflationary pressures throughout the economy.

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