JD Vance and Howard Lutnick attend Charity Day 2024 hosted by The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images)
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to tap Wall Street financier Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Lutnick, chair and CEO of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, is currently serving as co-chair of the Trump transition team. The Jewish Republican publicly endorsed the president-elect's proposed tariffs on U.S. imports, which he would have a key role in implementing as commerce secretary. If confirmed by the Senate, he would oversee the agency focused on U.S. economic growth and promoting domestic industries.
Trump considered Lutnick to lead the Treasury Department, but investor Scott Bessent has since emerged as a leading contender, according to the Journal.
Lutnick, a major donor to Zionist causes, said he joined Trump’s campaign primarily because of the former president’s support for Israel and his response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.
"He had clear, moral clarity when it came to Israel and what happened, and the way that he thought about what happened," Lutnick told the Philadelphia Inquirer last month. "That was huge to me."
