Howard Lutnick speak at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 27, in New York. (AFP)

US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday nominated Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick as his commerce secretary, saying that if confirmed, Lutnick will spearhead the tariff and trade agenda of the incoming administration.

Trump issued a statement on the nomination of Lutnick, a co-chair of his transition team, as US allies and partners have been paying keen attention to how Trump's trade policy would take shape and affect their economies after he takes office in January.

"He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said.

"In his role as Co-Chair of the Trump-Vance Transition Team, Howard has created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen," he added.

If confirmed, Lutnick is expected to help realize Trump's trade policy proposals.

On the stump, Trump underscored his pursuit of tariffs on foreign goods, a move that would affect trade ties with South Korea and other partners.

The president-elect has said he might slap tariffs of up to 20 percent on all US imports while proposing a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods.

He has also been pursuing what he calls the "manufacturing renaissance" under his "new American industrialism" as he highlighted America will see a "mass exodus" of manufacturing back to America from China, South Korea and other countries.

Lutnick has been a high-profile figure on Wall Street for more than 30 years. He joined Cantor Fitzgerald in 1983 and rapidly rose through the ranks to become the company's president at the age of 29.

But tragedy struck on September 11, 2001 when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 of its 960 New York-based employees, according to his bio provided by Trump's transition team. He later emerged from the tragedy and rebuilt the firm to honor those lost and support their families.

Lutnick is on the Board of Directors of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and Weill Cornell Medicine. He received the Department of the Navy's Distinguished Public Service Award, the highest honor granted to non-military personnel by the Navy. (Yonhap)