By David Shepardson and Lananh Nguyen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Senate Commerce Committee said on Wednesday it would hold a Jan. 29 hearing on President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Commerce Department, the agency that has become a key U.S. tool in its efforts to curb tech sector in China.

Trump has tapped Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick to lead the department and his strategy on trade and tariffs. The head of brokerage firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick also has “additional direct responsibility” for the US Trade Representative’s office, Trump said last year.

Lutnick also runs the brokerage BGC Group and is chairman of the Newmark Group (NASDAQ:), a commercial real estate services company, and FMX, a platform owned by some of Wall Street’s largest banks and traders.

In a document seen by Reuters, Lutnick said that if confirmed he would resign his positions at Cantor, BGC and Newmark and divest assets including his interests in those entities.

Lutnick, who is worth $1.5 billion, according to Forbes, also filed an extensive financial disclosure form detailing his assets.

The Commerce Department oversees many functions with nearly 47,000 employees, from the US Census Bureau to weather forecasting, ocean navigation and investment promotion.

The U.S. trade authority’s export controls on sensitive technologies have put it at the center of trade disputes with China, as well as investigations into anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases that are often result in punitive tariffs to protect domestic industries.

Fearing that Beijing could weaponize American technology to bolster its military, the Trump and Biden administrations have aggressively used Commerce Department authorities to impose regulations to stem the flow of US and foreign technology in China – with special emphasis on semiconductors and equipment used in manufacturing. them.

Over the past two years, the US has issued sweeping export controls on advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China, limiting its access to cutting-edge chips for artificial intelligence and equipment needed to produce the next generation of semiconductors.

In Biden’s final days in office, the Commerce Department clamped down on the export of AI chips and technology, ending rules that effectively bar nearly all Chinese cars and trucks from the U.S. market and said it should consider Trump bans all Chinese drones. Trump this week withdrew an executive order on AI safety that Biden signed in 2023.