Donald Trump’s Tariff Dealmaker-in-Chief

I came across a long read article in The New Yorker (a bit dated…it’s from July) that paints a vivid picture of Howard Lutnick, U.S. Secretary of Commerce. I have to say it confirms many of my previously held views of the man, and of the administration he serves.

… In “The Art of the Deal,” Trump’s ghostwritten business-advice memoir from 1987, he observes, “Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That’s how I get my kicks.” One senses that Lutnick is animated by similar principles. The Department of Commerce, an agency with fifty thousand employees and thirteen bureaus, manages a vast and varied portfolio: the National Weather Service, the Census Bureau, the Patent and Trademark Office. It is, as one Lutnick adviser told me, “a junk drawer for everything under the sun, from red snapper to wind to ships to artificial intelligence—you name it.” But Lutnick sees himself primarily as the President’s dealmaker-in-chief…

Source: “Donald Trump’s Tariff Dealmaker-in-Chief” By Antonia Hitchens July 21, 2025, The New Yorker

Things have been quiet of late on the Canada-U.S. Trade front. That will not last long as consultations will soon start on the review of the CUSMA trilateral agreement with Mexico.

It is unclear how the review will be handled on the U.S. side. While much of the “Liberation Day” tariff exercise appeared to be handled by Trump himself and a few Cabinet Secretaries and advisors, many of the issues to be covered in a CUSMA review will be highly technical, at least at the beginning. But at the end of the day the review will never be drawn to a conclusion without the highest-level engagement in the U.S. administration.

There is a very good chance that Howard Lutnick will be there advising Trump.

Lutnick appears to be very opportunistic. He has supported both Democrats and Republicans and didn’t like Trump in the early days. But he appears to have lately jumped at the chance to help Trump now that he is the President. And he is a man exclusively focussed on “deals”, like his master. From his early days at Cantor Fitzgerald when he proudly says he was about constantly “doubling”…i.e. more and bigger deals. He is strictly transactional…he’ll give away “Trump Card” citizenship and make $1 billion for the U.S. he says proudly.

He appears to have no sense of the U.S. being part of an international trading system that is worth safeguarding. He has no recognition of the need for all parties to agreements, if those agreements are going to have any “staying power”, to have at least some of their interests met in the final outcome. The only thing that matters is that raw U.S. power provides the ability to force deals.

And like most of the trade advisors to Trump, he lives in the past…where tariffs drove the international trading system. Services, IP etc. don’t seem to be on the radar.

It’s all about the bro-culture of who can get closest to, and suck-up more to, the President.

Take the time to read The New Yorker piece. It gives a useful insight into what the world faces now.

Reading it reconfirmed the respect and empathy I have for the Canadian Ministers and officials who have to deal with Mr. Lutnick and his colleagues.