WASHINGTON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate voted on

Tuesday 51-45 to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee Howard

Lutnick, the billionaire chairman and CEO of Wall Street firm

Cantor Fitzgerald, to run the Commerce Department.

The Commerce Department, which has 47,000 employees, is

responsible for U.S. export controls, anti-dumping and

anti-subsidy duties, weather forecasting, fisheries, economic

data and promotion of investment in the United States. It also

has oversight for the $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science

semiconductor manufacturing and research subsidy program, and a

$42 billion program to expand high-speed broadband to areas with

little or no service.

Trump earlier said he had designated Lutnick as the

leader of his trade policy. Lutnick told senators he has advised

Trump to pursue across-the-board tariffs country-by-country to

restore "reciprocity" to America's trading relationships.

Last week, Reuters reported the White House is seeking

to renegotiate CHIPS awards and has signaled delays to some

upcoming semiconductor disbursements.

Lutnick told senators the CHIPS program is "an excellent

downpayment" to rebuild the sector in the U.S., but needs to be

reviewed.

Lutnick is worth $1.5 billion, according to Forbes.

Lutnick has said he will review

year-old restrictions on firearms exports

put in place by former President Joe Biden's

administration, aimed at preventing foreign criminal groups from

acquiring U.S. guns.

Lutnick wants to improve U.S. access to Canada's largely

closed dairy market and would work to protect the U.S. market

from fisheries imports from Russia and China.

Senate Commerce Committee chair Ted Cruz said Lutnick

will focus on issues including expanding commercial access to

wireless spectrum and "will ensure American taxpayer dollars are

spent efficiently and that Congress gets 'the benefit of the

bargain' on legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act."

Lutnick said

last month Chinese AI startup DeepSeek

had misappropriated U.S. technology to create a "dirt

cheap" AI model and vowed to impose new restrictions on

Beijing's technology access.