President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’ll nominate billionaire Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald LP and co-chair of the transition team, to be his Commerce secretary as well as top trade adviser.
The move is widely seen as a consolation prize for Lutnick, who is overseeing Trump’s transition team and staffing moves in the new administration. He had lobbied hard for the Treasury role, but encountered pushback from Wall Street, which questioned his expertise.
Lutnick also reportedly rubbed Trump the wrong way with his repeated entreaties. He won the endorsement of Tesla Inc. founder and Trump superfan Elon Musk for Treasury, but that wasn’t enough to sway the president-elect, who hasn’t yet made an announcement for his Treasury pick.
