Howard Lutnick | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2025 | |
| 41st United States Secretary of Commerce | |
| Assumed office February 21, 2025 | |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Deputy | Paul Dabbar |
| Preceded by | Gina Raimondo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Howard William Lutnick (1961-07-14)July 14, 1961 (age 64) Long Island,New York, U.S. |
| Party |
|
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | Haverford College (BA) |
Howard William Lutnick (born July 14, 1961) is an American businessman and government official who serves as the 41stUnited States secretary of commerce since 2025.
In 1983, Lutnick was hired atCantor Fitzgerald under the mentorship of the firm's founder,B. Gerald Cantor. In 1990, Lutnick became president and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald. After Cantor's declining health in 1995, Lutnick became involved in a contentious legal battle with Cantor's wife,Iris, over succession plans, filing suit inDelaware court claiming Cantor lacked sufficient mental capacity to make decisions. Following a settlement that gave Lutnick management control, he was appointed chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald after Cantor's death in 1996. He invested significantly in technology, establishing anelectronic trading platform known aseSpeed. In theSeptember 11 attacks, Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 employees, including Howard's brother, Gary. Lutnick's handling of the aftermath, including the immediate cessation of salaries to families of deceased employees, drew both praise for his efforts to rebuild the firm and criticism from victims' families.
After fundraising forHillary Clinton in2016, Lutnick was a fundraiser forDonald Trump's2020 and2024 presidential campaigns and a vocal proponent of Trump's tariff proposals. In August 2024, he was named co-chair of Donald Trump'spresidential transition team. President-elect Trump nominated Lutnick for Secretary of Commerce in November 2024. Following aSenate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing in January 2025, he was confirmed by theSenate in February. As commerce secretary, he has advocated for tariffs and made controversial statements regardingSocial Security payments.Time listed Lutnick as one ofthe world's 100 most influential people in 2025.
Howard William Lutnick[1] was born on July 14, 1961,[2] onLong Island,New York.[3] He was the second son ofSolomon and Jane (née Lieberman) Lutnick.[a][8] Solomon was a professor of history atQueens College, City University of New York, while Jane was a painter and sculptor[1] who taught at theC.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.[9] Lutnick is ofJewish descent.[10] He was raised inJericho, New York,[2] and attendedJericho High School.[11] In February 1978,[8] during Lutnick's junior year, Jane died oflymphoma. Lutnick attendedHaverford College as a Division III tennis recruit.[12] In Lutnick's first week of classes, Solomon died of achemotherapy drug overdose; he was being treated forcolon cancer that hadmetastasized to his lungs.Robert Stevens, the president of Haverford College, offered to waive his fees to the university. At Haverford, Lutnick became captain of the tennis team. He graduated in 1983 with a degree in economics.[3]
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After graduating, Lutnick worked at Noonan, Astley & Pierce as a broker for theUnited States dollar–Japanese yen exchange, where he metB. Gerald Cantor.[13] In 1983, Cantor took Lutnick as his protégé and hired him at his eponymous firm,Cantor Fitzgerald, encouraged by Rod Fisher, a partner at the firm and Cantor's nephew.[14] Within a year and a half, Lutnick had steadily ascended within the firm, becoming the chief executive of a division of Cantor Fitzgerald that managed the personal investments of Cantor and his associates. He brought additional clients, increasing its profitability to become one of Cantor Fitzgerald's most lucrative divisions.[15] By December 1990, Lutnick was appointed Cantor's successor in the event of his death.[14] In 1991,[16] after a failed attempt by Cantor Fitzgerald's president to oust him, Lutnick became the firm's chief executive[17] and president.[15] The following year, Cantor restructured Cantor Fitzgerald to a partnership and implemented a succession plan, abandoning his previous effort to give the company to a charitable foundation.[15]
In 1990, Cantor began undergoingkidney dialysis, and in December 1995, he was hospitalized inNew York. Lutnick moved to implement a succession plan at Cantor Fitzgerald, allowing him to become a managing general partner at the firm. The lack of involvement of Cantor's family infuriated its members, including his wife,Iris Cantor, whose attorneys had argued with Lutnick's attorneys. In March 1996, Lutnick and his division, CF Group Management, filed a lawsuit inDelaware to enforce the plan, arguing that Cantor did not possess "sufficient mental capacity" to understand the legal documents he was signing.The New York Times noted that Lutnick had already lost the necessary support of the Cantors.[15] The partners settled in May, allowing Lutnick to retain management control while the Cantors hold a limited partnership stake.[18] In July, Cantor died.[19] As chairman[3] of Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick sought to broker deals with larger investment companies such asDeutsche Bank andMerrill Lynch.[20]
Lutnick heralded technology at Cantor Fitzgerald. In September 1998, the firm beganelectronic trading for futures contracts onTreasury bonds andnotes,[21] developingeSpeed, anelectronic trading platform, with an investment ofUS$250 million. eSpeed was released in March 1999.[16] In addition, Lutnick diversified Cantor's investments, seeking to establish a brokering business in Europe—spending at leastUS$43 million since 1994—and a futures exchange known asCantor Exchange, though it traded significantly fewer contracts than its competitors, including theChicago Board of Trade.[14] BusinessmanMichael Spencer noted that eSpeed had become a dominant market inTreasury securities trading, but had not achieved similar successes in other markets. By September 2001, eSpeed had created four dozen marketplaces, including TradeSpark, an exchange for natural gas and electricity.[13] After theEnron scandal, TradeSpark received a surge in usage.[22]
At the time of theterrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Cantor Fitzgerald was headquartered inthe North Tower of theWorld Trade Center. The company occupied several floors just above whereAmerican Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the building. Of the 960 total employees who worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in New York City, all 658 who were in the office on the day of the attacks died.[23][24] Lutnick was scheduled to go into the office that day, but he had taken his son to kindergarten. His brother, Gary, did not survive.[7] Cantor Fitzgerald's operations inLondon andNew Jersey allowed eSpeed to continue trading.[25] Lutnick's interviews withConnie Chung onABC News were widely publicized[26] and he became nationally recognized.[27] Internally, however, he garnered criticism from families of employees at Cantor Fitzgerald for the company's refusal to continue paying any part of the salaries owed to employees who were ultimately killed in the attack. According to Lutnick, getting this authorized was beyond practical: banks would not endorse the continued payment of two-thirds of their employees, particularly when they were well-aware that said employees were deceased and no longer active employees of the company. However, the relief the company obtained by way of its freedom from those very salary obligations provided Cantor Fitzgerald with an indispensable safety net in the immediate, uncertain aftermath.[28] TheAmerican Red Cross offered as much asUS$30,000 to the families of the victims after Lutnick appealed to the organization's president and chief executive,Bernadine Healy.[29] Lutnick attended twenty funerals a day for over a month.[30] In October, Cantor Fitzgerald began distributingUS$45 million to families.[31] In February 2002, the firm announced it would divideUS$4.9 million in profit to survivors.[32]
A year after the attacks, Lutnick began negotiations to relocate Cantor Fitzgerald toUnion Square, Manhattan, at14th Street betweenBroadway andUniversity Place, from the firm's temporary headquarters at 135 East 57th Street.[33][34] He requestedUS$50 million for the initiative from theUnited States Congress and formed a working relationship withFlorida representativeBill Young, the chairman of theHouse Committee on Appropriations, but the final legislation signed by presidentGeorge W. Bush did not explicitly mention Cantor Fitzgerald and was less than what Lutnick had requested atUS$33 million.[33] The deal later fell through, and Lutnick began considering 10 Hanover Square[35] before moving into 110 East 59th Street, fulfilling his vow to never return toLower Manhattan.[36] By December 2002, Cantor Fitzgerald had 750 employees in New York.[23] In August 2004, the firm established a partnership,BGC Partners, for its voice brokerage business.[37] Lutnick was appointed the chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald's fixed-income trading and sales business, succeeding Irvin Goldman, in October 2007.[38]
In January 2017,Anshu Jain, a formerDeutsche Bank executive, joined Cantor Fitzgerald as its president;[39] Jain died in 2022.[40] By September 2018, Lutnick was worthUS$1.5 billion, according to theBloomberg Billionaires Index.[41] Since 2020, Cantor Fitzgerald has invested in cryptocurrency, particularlyTether, a major cryptocurrency company which has been implicated in money laundering and sanctions evasion by regimes inRussia,Iran, andNorth Korea.[42] In July 2024, Lutnick and presidential candidateDonald Trump spoke at aBitcoin conference inNashville, Tennessee, in which Lutnick announced Cantor Fitzgerald would open aUS$2 billion lending facility with Bitcoin as collateral.[43] As of October, Cantor Fitzgerald manages the majority of Tether's reserve assets, including overUS$80 billion inTreasury securities.[44] The firm has also invested in political endeavors, including by encouragingRumble, analt-tech video hosting company, to go public, advising a business operated byOmeed Malik, and investing in Strive Enterprises, an asset management company owned byVivek Ramaswamy.[45]
In February 2025, after being confirmed by theSenate as theUnited States secretary of commerce, Lutnick named his sons, Brandon and Kyle, who were in their 20s, as chairman and executive vice chairman, respectively. In addition, Sage Kelly, Pascal Bandelier, and Christian Wall were named to lead Cantor's investment banking, equities, and fixed income divisions, respectively.[46] During his time in the White House as commerce secretary, Lutnick has pushed for projects and investments that benefitted his family.[47]New York Times wrote in November 2025, "never in modern U.S. history has the office intersected so broadly and deeply with the financial interests of the commerce secretary’s own family, according to interviews with ethics lawyers and historians."[47]
After theSeptember 11 attacks, Lutnick donatedUS$1 million to the Cantor Fitzgerald Foundation.[7] He established the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, which began donatingUS$5,000 to families of victims with one or more children in October 2001.[31]Cantor Fitzgerald donatedUS$4 million to the fund in September 2002.[48] Cantor Fitzgerald andBGC Partners has held an annual charity day on September 11; by September 2014, the event raisedUS$101 million for non-profits dedicated to the attacks, including the September 11th Education Trust.[4] As of September 2006, the fund has donatedUS$180 million to families.[30] In 2008, Lutnick appeared onThe Celebrity Apprentice, hosted byDonald Trump in a charity auction.[45] The Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund has also donated to hurricane relief, includingHurricane Harvey in 2017.[49] With senatorChuck Schumer, Lutnick appeared at P.S. 256 to personally donateUS$1,000 debit cards to families affected byHurricane Sandy.[50] He gave debit cards of an equal amount to victims of the2013 Moore tornado.[51]
Lutnick is the largest benefactor toHaverford College.[52] As of October 2014, when he gave the largest single donation to the college—valued atUS$25 million, he has donatedUS$65 million in total.[3] Lutnick's donations have gone towards the library named after him; the Douglas B. Gardner Integrated Athletic Center; the Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery;[12] and the Gary Lutnick Tennis & Track Center, among other facilities.[53]
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Lutnick, a lifelong Democrat, is now a registeredRepublican; in an interview with theWall Street Journal, he described himself as afiscal conservative andsocial liberal who left theDemocratic Party after he felt that the party had shifted further to thepolitical left. In the2016 United States elections, he donated to presidential candidateHillary Clinton andSenate candidateKamala Harris.[54] He later attributed those donations to his wife.[45] ABloomberg News andOpenSecrets analysis found that the Lutnicks have given political donations since 1989.[45] In May 2019,The New York Times disclosed that Lutnick had hosted a fundraiser for U.S. president and presidential candidateDonald Trump that raised more thanUS$5 million.[55] Five years later, he hosted a fundraiser forSouth Carolina senatorTim Scott.[56]
Lutnick co-hosted a fundraiser forDonald Trump inLondon in June 2024 that was organized byDuke Buchan.[57] In August, he raisedUS$15 million[58] for Trump at his home inBridgehampton, New York.[59] The event caused traffic delays fromRiverhead toAmagansett through the night.[60] That month, Lutnick was appointed co-chair ofTrump's transition team[61] overseeing personnel.[62] WithWoody Johnson andKimberly Guilfoyle, he committed to donateUS$2.5 million and joined the Trump Victory Trust.[63] By September, he had raisedUS$11 million for Trump, according to Bloomberg News,[45] including aUS$5 million donation toMAGA Inc.[64] He appeared ata rally for Trump atMadison Square Garden withElon Musk in October.[54]
As co-chairman of Trump's transition team, Lutnick prioritized loyalty to Trump in his hiring decisions.[65] After meeting withRobert F. Kennedy Jr. in October, Lutnick claimed that he was convinced thatvaccines cause autism, and that theNational Childhood Vaccine Injury Act had allowed vaccine manufacturers to be reckless in the production process.[66] He told theNew York Post that month thatThe Heritage Foundation, which ledProject 2025, was "radioactive".[67]
In 2025, Lutnick was one of the donors who funded the White House'sEast Wing demolition, and planned building of a ballroom.[68]
In January 2006, Lutnick was named to the board of theWorld Trade Center Memorial Foundation.[69] As of November 2024, he is a member of thePartnership for New York City's board[70] andWeill Cornell Medicine.[71] From July 2003 to June 2024, he served as a board member of theHorace Mann School.[72] Lutnick's financial disclosure form, released in January 2025, revealed that he had at leastUS$806 million in assets. He declared shares inGE Aerospace,GE Healthcare,The Walt Disney Company,Nasdaq, Inc., and the musicalKimberly Akimbo. In 2019 and 2023, he borrowed more thanUS$100 million fromBank of America.[73]
Following the2024 presidential election, Lutnick was being considered assecretary of the treasury.[74] Within a week, discussions had narrowed to Lutnick andScott Bessent, who was viewed as the front-runner until Lutnick began to advocate for himself. According toPolitico, the decision was being delayed by Lutnick's role in providing information toDonald Trump.[75]The New York Times reported that Trump had expressed reservations about Lutnick, portraying him as a constant presence and a manipulator, leading to further delays as he broadened his list of candidates.[76] Lutnick was endorsed to the position byElon Musk, a Trump advisor; Musk considered Bessent as a "business-as-usual choice."[77] On November 19, 2024, Trump selected Lutnick as his nominee forsecretary of commerce.[78]
In the months after the election, Lutnick privately negotiated with companies and countries onTrump's economic policy. According to theNew York Times, Lutnick privately encouraged Trump to seek a trade agreement with China, believing that he was in an advantageous position.[79] Lutnick appeared before theSenate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on January 29, 2025, where he promoted tariffs and vowed greater action onChina and its advances inartificial intelligence, particularly the release ofDeepSeek R1.[80] In February 2025, theNew York Times reported that he had been involved in discussions to offerIntel's manufacturing facilities toTSMC.[81]
On February 18, 2025, Lutnick was confirmed by theSenate in a 51–45 vote.[82]Democratic senatorsCory Booker andGary Peters, as well asRepublican senatorsJerry Moran andDan Sullivan, did not vote.[83] He was sworn in on February 21.[84]
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Lutnick has supported Trump's trade policy, including thesecond Trump tariffs.[85] Prior to his confirmation, Lutnick was directed by Trump to impose reciprocal tariffs, telling reporters that theDepartment of Commerce's work would be completed by April 1.[86] In his first meeting with an international official, Lutnick—joined byUnited States trade representative nomineeJamieson Greer andNational Economic Council chairmanKevin Hassett—discussed trade withMaroš Šefčovič, the European commissioner for trade and economic security.[87] Following his confirmation, Lutnick received a congratulatory letter fromWang Wentao, the Chinese minister of commerce, expressing dissatisfaction with U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and that China was willing to resolve "respective concerns through equal dialogue and consultation."[88]
After Trump initiateda trade war withCanada andMexico, Lutnick was involved in negotiations with foreign leaders.[89] In an interview onMeet the Press in March 2025, Lutnick said there was "no chance" of a recession due toTrump's economic policies.[90] According toPolitico, he received internal criticism for the tariffs.[91] Later that month, Lutnick said the tariffs would be "worth it" even if they lead to a recession.[92] In an interview with theToronto Star, Lutnick justified imposing tariffs on Canada, citing offshoring and fentanyl.[42] That month, Lutnick encouragedFox News viewers to purchase stock inTesla, stating that Tesla stock "will never be this cheap again," which allegedly violated federal ethics rules due to his federal government position.[93] In a podcast interview that month, he stated that only a "fraudster" would be concerned and complain about a missedSocial Security check, so "the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen" for complaints.[94]
By April, Lutnick had instituted a policy at theNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that all contracts over $100,000 had to be personally approved by him.[95] The policy caused abottleneck and, by that month, contracts for maintenance andjanitorial service at facilities,emergency alert translations, andweb hosting had lapsed.[96] Later that month, Lutnick publicly promoted "great jobs of the future" for the United States, "where you work in these [factory] plants for the rest of your life, and your kids work here, and your grandkids work here," as he gave the example of factory robot technician jobs.[97]
In December 1994, Lutnick married Allison Lambert, a senior associate atWilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker.[1] Allison was appointed a trustee of theJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in February 2025 after PresidentDonald Trump appointed himself as the center's chairman.[98] The Lutnicks have four children.[54]
Lutnick said in October 2025 interview that he was neighbors withJeffrey Epstein but swore in 2005 that he would never be in the same room ever again with him due to his "disgusting" behavior at a meeting with Epstein, Lutnick, and Lutnick's wife. As Lutnick explained at that meeting he had asked why Epstein had a massage table in the middle of his house: "I say to him, 'Massage table in the middle of your house? How often do you have a massage?...And he says, 'Every day.' And then he gets, like weirdly close to me, and he says, 'And the right kind of massage'...[I]n the six to eight steps it takes to get from his house to my house, my wife and I decided that I will never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again."[99] Despite this, Lutnick went on to have various contact with Epstein for many years afterward.[99]
In January 2026, newly releasedEpstein files showed extensive contact between Lutnick and Epstein over several years. A longtime Epstein aide reached out to Lutnick in November 2012 to arrange a meeting while Lutnick was inSaint Thomas; Lutnick, accompanied by his wife Allison and their four children, agreed to a lunch on December 23 on Epstein's private island. Emails showed Lutnick and his wife coordinating logistics, including where to dock their yacht atLittle Saint James. The day after the scheduled meeting,BBC News reported that Lutnick "received an email from a redacted sender that said Epstein wanted to pass a message to him, which said: 'Nice seeing you'—suggesting that at least one visit did happen."[99] The two also had drinks together on another occasion in 2011 according to Epstein's schedule. In November 2015, Epstein received an invitation from Lutnick to a fundraiser at his financial firm forHillary Clinton's presidential campaign. In 2017, the two men discussed plans about the construction of a building across the street from both of their homes. The next year, Epstein contributed to a philanthropic dinner hosted by Lutnick.[100][101]
When asked about the emails, Lutnick toldThe New York Times "I spent zero time with him" and hung up. A Commerce Department spokesman said Lutnick had "limited interactions" with Epstein "in the presence of his wife" and has never been accused of wrongdoing.[102] On February 10, 2026, Lutnick testified before theSenate Appropriations Committee on his relationship with Epstein. Here, Lutnick admitted that in December 2012, four years after Epstein's conviction, Lutnick and his wife and children visitedLittle Saint James where they had lunch with Epstein.[103] The hearing led to bipartisan criticism, and calls for Lutnick's resignation.[104]
In 1998, Lutnick purchased aManhattan property at 11 East 71st Street, behind theHenry Clay Frick House, from the Comet Trust. Lutnick had extensively renovated its interior by May 2001.[105] Lutnick still owns his mansion, as of 2025. This property is next door to theHerbert N. Straus House, the Manhattan home of Jeffrey Epstein from 1995 until his death.[106]
Lutnick also lives inBridgehampton, New York, on a 40-acre property he purchased in 2003 forUS$15 million. In December 2024, he purchasedBret Baier's home inWashington, D.C., forUS$25 million, setting the record for the most expensive house in the city. The property is inspired by the Château du Grand-Lucé.[107] According to theNew York Times, the purchase—among others by wealthy members of the Trump administration—contributed to an increase in Washington, D.C.'s luxury real estate market.[108] Additionally, Lutnick owns the penthouse ofThe Pierre and a condo on the ocean north ofMiami Beach.[109]
In October 2021, Lutnick disclosed that he had been diagnosed withnon-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He beganchemotherapy shortly thereafter.[110] By September 2024, he was cancer-free.[45]
Lutnick is a recipient of theNavy Distinguished Public Service Award.[71] In 2025, he was named one ofthe world's 100 most influential people byTime.[111]
Lutnick is prominently featured in the 2013 documentaryOut of the Clear Blue Sky, directed by Danielle Gardner, which examines the destruction and rebuilding of Cantor Fitzgerald following the September 11 attacks. The film highlights Lutnick's efforts to preserve the company after the attack, including by controversially stopping salaries to the families of victims.[112]
Media related toHoward Lutnick at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related toHoward Lutnick at Wikiquote| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Commerce 2025–present | Incumbent |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded byas United States Secretary of Agriculture | Order of precedence of the United States as Secretary of Commerce | Succeeded byas United States Secretary of Labor |
| U.S. presidential line of succession | ||
| Preceded byas United States Secretary of Agriculture | Tenth in line as Secretary of Commerce | Succeeded byas United States Secretary of Labor |
Members of theCabinet of the United States | ||
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| Cabinet members |  | |
| Cabinet-level members | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
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