Lutnick Vows To Divest From Newmark, Cantor Fitzgerald In 90 Days If Confirmed As Commerce Head
The billionaire tapped to head up President Donald Trump’s Commerce Department has vowed to sell his business holdings within 90 days as he pursues senatorial confirmation.
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Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of investment firms Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group, told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation that he would divest “all of my interests, my business interests, all of my assets, everything.”
“I made the decision I’ve made enough money in my life,” Lutnick said during his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
Lutnick has positions in more than 800 businesses and private organizations and holds at least $800M in assets, The New York Times reported.
The U.S. Department of Commerce, with its nearly 50,000 employees, is tasked with leading trade policy, overseeing funding for domestic computer chip factories and granting patents, among its many functions. If approved as its secretary, Lutnick would likely spearhead Trump’s agenda of imposing tariffs on foreign imports, including a 25% tax on Canadian and Mexican products and a 10% tax on Chinese goods, tariffs that could be levied as soon as this Saturday, The Washington Post reported.
During the confirmation hearing, Lutnick denied that tariffs would cause overall inflation for U.S. consumers but said they would be used as a tool to “create reciprocity” among global trading partners, which he said were taking advantage of the U.S. to grow their own economies, NPR reported.
He left open a window that Mexico and Canada could avoid tariffs if they stanch the flow of fentanyl across their borders into the U.S.
“My way of thinking ... is country by country, macro, let America make it more fair,” Lutnick said during the hearings. “We are treated horribly by the global trading environment... And we can use tariffs to create reciprocity, fairness and respect.”
Critics of Lutnick said his ties to businesses could pose a conflict of interest as head of the Commerce Department. For example, he was a vocal supporter during Trump’s campaign of policies to encourage more manufacturing in the U.S. Meanwhile he is executive chairman of — and owns 30% of the Class A stock of — global commercial real estate firm Newmark Group, which marketed several industrial sites for sale and rent in Mexico, highlighting them as ideal ways for foreign manufacturers to avoid Chinese tariffs and leverage cheap labor, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
Lutnick said he will step down from Newmark if he is confirmed.
Richard Painter, who was the chief White House ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, told WaPo that as commerce secretary, Lutnick would be in a position to “play favorites” by being involved directly with corporate issues and promoting specific industries and companies.
“So the question becomes, is he going to do what he honestly thinks is in the interest of the American people, or is he going to help the industries he came out of?” Painter told WaPo.