Lutnick was once a neighbor of the deceased criminal, and real estate records reveal Epstein's role in transactions involving his property.

TOKYO, July 17 (Reuters) - Japan's top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa held talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on U.S. tariffs on Thursday, as Tokyo races to avert a 25% levy that will be imposed unless a deal is clinched by an August 1 deadline.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explained the Trump administration's turnabout in assuring Nvidia that it [can sell its H20 artificial-intelligence chip](

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday that President Trump's reciprocal tariffs will take effect later this week, suggesting they aren't open to negotiation after the announcement sent shockwaves through the investment world and sparked recession fears.

President Donald Trump says he plans to place tariffs of over 10% on smaller countries, including nations in Africa and the Caribbean.

President Trump will soon issue 15 to 20 more letters to world leaders informing them of the tariff rate that will be applied to imports from their countries starting on Aug. 1, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday.

The on-again, off-again tariff rollout has earned the president a moniker among Wall Street brokers: TACO, which stands for Trump Always Chickens Out. The nickname angered Trump, who countered that “it’s called negotiation.”

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick joins 'Halftime Report' to discuss the U.S.'s energy and AI rollout strategy and current trade deals including this morning with Indonesia.

Lutnick's former company Cantor Fitzgerald owns a controlling interest in BGC Group, which operates a weather derivatives marketplace.

Trump imposed a 10 percent baseline tariff on goods from the EU on April 2, which the president has threatened to raise to 50 percent if a new deal is not reached by next week. The president of the European Commission said last month that negotiating a full trade deal on such a short timeline is “impossible.”