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Agence France-Presse

The US Senate voted Tuesday to confirm Wall Street billionaire Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary, a key step towards the roll-out of President Donald Trump’s “America First” trade policy, which uses tariffs as a broad negotiation tool.
Trump has threatened sweeping levies on US allies and competitors alike, looking to tariffs not only as a way to raise revenue but also pressure other countries to act on US priorities.
Lutnick, chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, is a close ally of Trump’s and has been a defender of imposing tariffs on US imports.
On Tuesday, he was confirmed by a vote of 51-45.

He takes the helm at a department that advocates for US business interests and oversees an apparatus restricting the export of certain technology – including semiconductors – to adversaries, including China and Russia.
The role will place him at the frontier of Washington’s tariff and trade agenda too, working with the US Trade Representative’s office.
The Commerce Department is in charge of a nearly US$53 billion programme involving subsidies to stimulate the US chipmaking sector, which Lutnick earlier called an “excellent down payment” despite stressing the need to review investments.
During his confirmation hearing last month, Lutnick backed sweeping tariffs targeting countries rather than specific products and signalled a hawkish approach to Beijing.
“We can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness and respect,” he told lawmakers.
He also denied that tariffs would cause widespread inflation, despite economists’ concerns that duties could add to consumer costs in the short term and weigh on growth in the longer haul.




The commerce secretary has a broad agenda to implement, and negotiations with some of the United States’ biggest trading partners to contend with.
Trump has unveiled blanket duties of up to 25 per cent on immediate US neighbours Canada and Mexico, threatening to snarl supply chains in key sectors like automobiles and setting off a flurry of negotiations.
The levies, which Trump said were imposed over immigration and drug smuggling concerns, are due to take effect in early March after a month-long pause as talks continue.
Separately, Trump also announced 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from March 12, which officials said would pile atop the hefty rates threatened on Canada and Mexico.
Looking ahead, Lutnick has signalled his willingness for broad “reciprocal tariffs” against US trading partners to start as early as April 2.
These levies, which Washington said are aimed at correcting “long-standing imbalances” in trade, would be tailored to each country.
Officials would consider both the tariffs countries impose on US goods as well as taxes seen as “discriminatory” – such as value-added taxes.


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Donald Trump

US Senate confirms Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary

Howard Lutnick, the billionaire CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, was confirmed by the Senate to be President Donald Trump’s commerce secretary. Photo: AP

Howard Lutnick (right) in the Oval Office with US President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Photo: AP

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Li Chenggang, China’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation, gestures during an interview in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2021. Photo: Reuters

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Illustration: Craig Stephens

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(From left) Chan Heng-chee, Singapore’s ambassador-at-large; Frederick Ma, chairman of the board at FWD Group; Thitinan Pongsudhirak, professor of international relations at Chulalongkorn University; Asean Business Advisory Council chairman Nazir Razak; and Zuraidah Ibrahim, executive managing editor of the South China Morning Post, during the “China Conference: Southeast Asia 2025” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday. Photo: Nora Tam

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of international relations and senior fellow with the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, at the “China Conference: Southeast Asia 2025” in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Monday. Photo: Nora Tam

US President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order on tariffs on aluminium imports in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on February 10. Photo: Reuters

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is seen as a strong proponent for hi-tech inflows into Malaysia. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Donald Trump has tasked Howard Lutnick with leading his administration’s tariff and trade agenda


Donald Trump has tasked Howard Lutnick with leading his administration’s tariff and trade agenda.


US Senate confirms Howard Lutnick as commerce secretary

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Donald Trump has tasked Howard Lutnick with leading his administration’s tariff and trade agenda

Donald Trump has tasked Howard Lutnick with leading his administration’s tariff and trade agenda