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Understanding the President’s Cabinet: Commerce Secretary
Understanding the President’s Cabinet: Commerce Secretary
Jan 17, 2026 10:14 AM

Note: This is the eleventh in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introductionhere.

Cabinet position:Secretary of Commerce

Department:Department of Commerce

Current Secretary:Wilbur Ross

Succession:The Commerce Secretary is tenth in the presidential line of succession.

Department Mission:“The mission of the Department is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. As part of the President’s economic team, the Secretary of Commerce serves as the voice of U.S. business within the Cabinet.” (Source)

Department Budget:$9.7 billion (FY 2017)

Number of employees:47,000

Primary Duties of the Secretary:The duties of the Commerce Secretary are to “foster, promote, and develop the foreign and merce, the mining, manufacturing, and fishery industries of the United States.” (Source)

Secretary Info

Secretary:Wilbur Ross

Previous occupation:Former Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of WL Ross & Co. LLC (a private equity firm). Ross spend 55 years ininvestment banking and private equity.

Education:B.A. degree from Yale College and MBA degree at Harvard Business School.

Previous government experience:Previously served as privatization advisor to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund.

Notable achievements:

• Ross has been chairman or lead director of more than panies operating in more than 20 different countries.

• Served as an officer of the New York State Democratic Party.

• Only person to be elected to both the Private Equity Hall of Fame and the Turnaround Management Hall of Fame.

• Was awarded the Order of Industrial Service Merit by President Kim Dae-jung for helping South Korea during its financial crisis.

• Was awarded The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by the Emperor of Japan.

• Served as Chairman of the Japan Society.

• Served as trustee of the Brookings Institution.

• Served as Chairman of the International Board of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Blenheim Foundation, the Magritte Museum in Brussels, and the Palm Beach Civic Association.

• Served as an Advisory Board Member of Yale University School of Management.

Notable quotes:

On trade: “I am not anti-trade. I am pro-trade. But I am pro-sensible trade, not trade that is detrimental to the American worker and to the domestic manufacturing base.”

On negotiating trade: “American negotiators keep making the same mistakes. Besides hurting our workers, chronic trade deficits stifle economic growth while we now owe China and other trading partners trillions in U.S. Treasury debt.”

On free trade: “Free trade is like free lunch: There is no free lunch. Somebody wins and somebody loses. And unfortunately, we’ve been losing with these stupid agreements that we’ve made.”

Previous and ing posts in this series:Secretary of State,Secretary of the Treasury,Secretary of Education, Secretary of Labor,Secretary of Defense, Attorney General,Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce,Secretary of Health and Human Services,Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy,Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Secretary of Homeland Security

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