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9/11 survivor Howard Lutnick will lead Donald Trump’s trade war

Published on November 20, 2024 at 06:00. / Modified on November 20, 2024 at 10:26.

Howard Lutnick noted the financial company Cantor Fitzgerald which had lost two thirds of its New York employees on September 11, 2001

The financier coveted the US Treasury, he was eventually named Secretary of Commerce

During the campaign, Howard Lutnick enthusiastically defended the increase in tariffs, despite the risks to the American economy

Donald Trump on Tuesday appointed New York billionaire Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary with the mission of implementing the tariffs that the Republican brandished during his campaign against China and other competitors. This 63-year-old financier born on Long Island into a Jewish family but orphaned as a teenager was already a close collaborator of the future president. He has co-led his transition team since August and was appointed to this position just after organizing a fundraiser for the Republican. He was also a donor to Donald Trump in 2020 against Joe Biden, while he previously financed Democrats.

For more than 30 years, Howard Lutnick has been at the head of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial company miraculously destroyed after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Its headquarters were in fact located in one of the World Trade Center towers which collapsed after were hit by two hijacked planes. That morning, 658 employees died, including Howard Lutnick’s younger brother, two-thirds of the workforce at the New York headquarters and nearly a quarter of those killed by the hijackers. The boss owes his life to his son whom he accompanied for his first day of kindergarten. As soon as he learned of the disaster, Howard Lutnick rushed to the scene. When the World Trade Center tower collapsed on his employees, he took refuge behind a car. He returned home haggard and covered in dust, like many New Yorkers.

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