Trump Secretary Silent as Sons Poised to Make Bank From End of Tariffs

The Supreme Court decision striking down Donald Trump’s many tariffs may prove to be a windfall for the family of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a key architect of Trump’s signature economic policy.

In July, Wired reported that Cantor Fitzgerald, which Lutnick chaired until he was appointed to Trump’s Cabinet, was allowing its traders to purchase the rights to hundreds of millions of dollars of refunds in the event the tariffs were struck down in court. The firm now happens to be headed by Lutnick’s sons Kyle and Brandon.

The magazine cited a letter from the firm explaining how Cantor Fitzgerald was willing to exchange refund rights for 20 to 30 percent of what the companies paid.

“So for a company that paid $10 million, they could expect to receive $2-$3 million in a trade,” a Cantor Fitzgerald representative wrote. “We have the capacity to trade up to several hundred million of these presently and can likely upsize that in the future to meet potential demand.”

The letter indicated that the firm already had one company agree to a deal worth about $10 million. It’s been seven months since then, and Cantor Fitzgerald has had plenty of time to make other such lucrative deals.

“The fact that it’s Cantor Fitzgerald, that raises some questions,” Tim Meyer, a professor of international business law at Duke University School of Law, told Wired. “It’s quite interesting that the commerce secretary’s firm is the one that is betting the tariffs will be struck down. That strikes me as very interesting—and quite telling about what those with connections to the administration think about the merits of the tariffs.”

Lutnick has been a steadfast proponent of Trump’s tariffs, frustrating many Republicans and staffers within the White House. He fought the efforts of others within the administration, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and National Economic Council chair Kevin Hassett, to put limits on Trump’s tariffs.

Lutnick has yet to comment on Friday’s court ruling. Does his firm’s bet mean he never really believed in the tariffs to begin with and was lying to the public about them? Did his kids know something the rest of us didn’t?