Written by David Shepherdson and Lanan Nguyen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday scheduled a Jan. 29 hearing on President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Commerce Department, which has become a key U.S. lever in efforts to rein in China's high-tech industry. announced that it would be held.
President Trump nominated Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick to lead the department and its trade and tariff strategy. President Trump said last year that Lutnick, the head of brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald, would also have “additional direct responsibility” to the U.S. Trade Representative's office.
Mr. Lutnick also runs the securities company BGC Group, where he also serves as chairman. newmark group (NASDAQ:), a commercial real estate services company, and FMX, a platform owned by some of Wall Street's biggest banks and traders.
In a document seen by Reuters, Lutnick said that if approved, he would step down from his positions at Cantor, BGC and Newmark and sell assets, including his interests in those entities.
Mr. Lutnick, who is worth $1.5 billion, also filed extensive financial disclosure forms detailing his holdings, according to Forbes.
The Department of Commerce has approximately 47,000 employees and oversees functions ranging from the U.S. Census Bureau to weather forecasting, ocean navigation, and investment promotion.
Commerce officials have put the U.S. at the center of a trade dispute with China over export restrictions on sensitive technology, and they are investigating anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases that often lead to punitive tariffs to protect domestic industries. .
Concerned that the Chinese government would use U.S. technology as a weapon to strengthen its military, the Trump and Biden administrations actively used Commerce Department authorities to block the flow of U.S. and foreign technology into China. The United States has imposed regulations on semiconductors and the equipment used to manufacture them, with particular emphasis on semiconductors and the equipment used to manufacture them. they.
Over the past two years, the United States has imposed extensive export controls on China on advanced chips and chip-making equipment, giving China access to cutting-edge chips for artificial intelligence and equipment needed to make next-generation semiconductors. has been restricted.
In the final days of Biden's term, the Commerce Department finalized rules that would further restrict exports of AI chips and technology, effectively banning nearly all Chinese-made cars and trucks from the U.S. market, and President Trump announced that all Chinese He said that a ban on manufactured drones should be considered. President Trump this week rescinded an executive order on AI safety that Biden signed in 2023.