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He's the face of Trump's tariffs. But 9/11 attacks put Howard Lutnick on the national stage

U.S. commerce secretary escaped death on Sept. 11, 2001, taking his son to school.

Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick speaks in the Oval Office of the White House after President Donald Trump signed an executive order, Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Canadians may know U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as the face of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. But nearly 25 years ago, he became a national figure when more than 650 employees of his Wall Street firm located in the World Trade Center were killed on Sept. 11, 2001. (Ben Curtis/The Associated Press)

 

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Howard Lutnick took his five-year-old son to school for his first day of kindergarten, causing the Wall Street CEO to be a little late getting to work at his World Trade Center office in New York City.

That delay ended up saving the life of Lutnick, who is now the U.S. commerce secretary and has become a leading figure in the current trade war with Canada.

But on 9/11, every one of his 658 employees at the investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald who were at the office that morning, including Lutnick's younger brother Gary, were killed when 1 WTC, the North Tower, was deliberately struck by hijacked American Airlines Flight 11. At the time, the firm had 960 employees based in New York.

 

Two days later, a grief-stricken and weeping Lutnick appeared on television, interviewed by then-ABC News journalist Connie Chung. Breaking down several times during the interview, Lutnick described how he went from hospital to hospital, searching for employees still unaccounted for.

"I don't go to a hospital or get anyone to go to any hospital and say, 'Find Gary Lutnick for me,'" he said. "I go with employee lists and say, 'Here' my list, here's everybody I got, find somebody on this list. I don't care who they are.'"

Suffered personal, professional losses

Following the broadcast, Lutnick made other media appearances, most notably on CNN with Larry King, and became somewhat of a national figure, representing just one of those who had suffered both personal and professional losses.

His image then certainly contrasts with the one Canadians see now — the confident pitchman for U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs against Canadian exports to the United States.

Since the Feb. 1 announcement by Trump of 25 per cent tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico going to the U.S., Lutnick — whose responsibilities as commerce secretary include imposing trade restrictions — has been making the rounds of U.S. media networks, blasting Canada for not doing enough to stop the flow of fentanyl, singing the praises of tariffs but also hinting there could be some potential exemptions or compromises.

(On Thursday, Trump announced he was pausing tariffs on some Canadian goods until April 2.)

A blond-haired older man, wearing a navy suit and yellow tie, stands behind a podium and gestures at a bearded grey-haired older man in a dark suit.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a swearing-in ceremony for Lutnick, right, as commerce secretary, in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 21. (Pool/The Associated Press)

 

But even before Lutnick became commerce secretary, he had been an outspoken supporter of Trump's tariff plan, and as part  of Trump's inner circle, co-chair of his transition team.

When he was appointed commerce secretary, Lutnick stepped down as CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, where, according to its website, he led the firm for four decades and rebuilt it after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

At that time, the firm had offices among the top five floors of the 110-storey North Tower. When the plane flew into floors 93 to 99 of the tower at 8:46 a.m., it trapped those people who worked above.

'We lost every person in our office'

Lutnick's company lost more employees than any other firm in 9/11 — more than two-thirds of its workforce and more than a third of the total killed at the North Tower.

"We lost every person in our office ... all the brokers, all the traders, all the salespeople at work. We lost them all," he said days later during an interview with CNN's Larry King.

Lutnick said that when he was at his son's school that morning, his phone kept ringing and disconnecting.

FILE- In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 file photo, fire and smoke billows from the north tower of New York's World Trade Center after terrorists crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and brought down the twin 110-story towers. A bill passed by Congress allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue the Saudi government has reinforced to some in the Arab world a long-held view that the U.S. only demands justice for its own victims of terrorism, despite decades of controversial U.S. interventions around the world. (AP Photo/David Karp, File)
Smoke billows from the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York after it was struck by a hijacked plane on Sept. 11, 2001. Lutnick's firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, had offices among the top five floors of the 110-storey building. (David Karp/The Associated Press)

 

"I later learned it was my brother Gary trying to call to say goodbye," he said in a social media post last Sept 11, commemorating the attacks.

He also discovered that his brother had called their sister and told her "he wasn't going to make it and the smoke was coming in and things were bad," he recounted to King, sobbing.

"And he called and said goodbye and that he loved her and for her to tell me that he, that he loved me."

 

 

 

Lutnick said when he eventually arrived at the building, he watched people fleeing and would "grab and shake them," asking what floor they were on, hoping to find someone from floors 101 to 105, where Cantor Fitzgerald's offices were located, he told Chung.

"I knew if I got one employee, if one person came down from that floor, that I know that there had to be others," he said.

Lutnick made contact with someone fleeing the building from the 91st floor, but nothing higher. He was then forced to run as the second World Trade Center tower began to collapse after being struck by another plane.

He said he tried to get ahead of the  giant plume of smoke but was knocked down underneath a truck. He was completely covered in dust and just walked for hours, eventually calling his wife, he said.

Faced backlash for cutting off paycheques

That emotional and compelling interview with Chung engendered widespread sympathy, as it was jarring for the public to see the CEO of a Wall Street firm break down.

Yet that sympathy was short-lived. Lutnick soon faced immense scorn when it was learned that just days after the attacks, he had cut off the paycheques of those employees who at the time were missing and presumed dead.

That backlash included criticism from some of the widows of those employees. Chung did a followup story, this time interviewing some of the widows who were angry with Lutnick's salary termination.

"Don't expect these women to cry for Lutnick," Chung reported. "Days after the tragedy, he did something they can neither forgive nor forget."

Howard Lutnick, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cantor Fitzgerald, that lost 658 employees in the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, looks at names inscribed at one of the reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial, during tenth anniversary ceremonies at the site, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2011 in New York. (AP Photo/David Handschuh, Pool)
Lutnick looks at names inscribed at one of the reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial, during 10th anniversary ceremonies at the site on Sept. 11, 2011. (David Handschuh/The Associated Press)

 

Lutnick at the time acknowledged he was getting inquires from widows asking about the salary for their husbands.

"They call me and they say, 'How come you can't pay my salary? Why can't you pay my husband's salary? Other companies pay their [dead and missing employees'] salary, why can't you,'" he told CNN's King.

"But, you see, I lost everybody in the company, so I can't pay their salary. They think we're doing something wrong. I can't pay their salaries," Lutnick said, again weeping.

Yet he defended that decision to cut off the paycheques and insisted he had no choice.

"I needed my bankers to know that I was in control," Lutnick told the New York Times in a 2011 interview. "That I wasn't sentimental and that I was no less motivated or driven to make my business survive."

He made good on his pledge to provide the families with 25 per cent of the firm's profits over the next five years — totalling $180 million US —and pay for their health care for the next 10 years.

WATCH | Lutnick suggests tariff talks with Canada could continue:

Shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump’s address to Congress, CBC’s Katie Simpson ran into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who suggested tariffs against Canada could still be negotiated. 

Meanwhile, some of the family members who had been critical of Lutnick reversed their opinion and offered praise for his efforts.

Lutnick was able to rebuild and grow Cantor Fitzgerald and become a billionaire in the process. But the Sept. 11 attacks, and those lost at his firm, still remain close to the surface.

Just recently at his confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate's commerce committee, Lutnick choked up as he recalled the events of that day and those killed.

"I still can't say it without getting emotional, sorry," he said.

 

Author: Mark Gollom · CBC News

Source: CBC News:

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