Howard Lutnickbillionaire financial executive president trump After being appointed head of the Department of Commerce, he agreed to sell his stake for a variety of business interests, including stepping down from his long-standing position at brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald.
Lutnick also agreed to resign from BGC Group, a global brokerage and financial technology company with large government contracts, and agreed to resign as chairman of Newmark Group, a commercial real estate company. According to an ethics report obtained by CBS News.
The documents and the 92-page financial disclosure report that Lutnick filed late Wednesday provide a glimpse into the significant divestiture challenges facing many of the ultra-wealthy executives seeking positions in the incoming Trump administration.
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Lutnick pledged to avoid any conflicts of interest that might arise as he works to advance the interests of American businesses at the Commerce Department. As someone who retains significant assets after leaving the company, the task will be complex.
If confirmed, Commerce Secretary Lutnick will take charge of a Cabinet agency responsible for funding new computer chip factories, enforcing trade restrictions, publishing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position where connections to the CEO and the wider business community are important.
“Tariffs are an amazing tool at the president’s disposal,” Rutnick, who advocates widespread tariffs, told CNBC in September. “We have to protect American workers.” During the campaign, President Trump proposed 60%. tariff To the product china — and impose tariffs of up to 20% on all U.S. imports. Recently, President Trump announced that a 10% tariff could be imposed on Chinese products as early as February, and threatened to impose a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico.
In recent years, Cantor Fitzgerald has become deeply involved in the cryptocurrency space, supporting one company in particular: Tether. Cantor could benefit from the Trump administration’s explicit support for weakening cryptocurrency regulation.
The company is still widely known for absorbing massive losses during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed about two-thirds of its New York-based employees, including Lutnick’s brother.
Lutnick has donated millions of dollars to efforts to re-elect Trump and other Republicans. He hosted a fundraiser for Trump in August that raised $15 million and also donated $5 million to the Make America Great Again PAC, according to Federal Election Commission records.
michael kaplan
contributed to this report.
