Wilbur L. Ross Jr.

Wilbur Louis Ross Jr. (born November 28, 1937) is an American businessman who served as the 39th United States secretary of commerce from 2017 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Ross was previously chairman and chief executive officer of WL Ross & Co from 2000 to 2017.

Ross ran the bankruptcy restructuring practice at N M Rothschild & Sons in New York beginning in the late 1970s. In the 1990s, Ross was an adviser to New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani on privatization, and was appointed by U.S. president Bill Clinton to the board of the U.S. Russia Investment Fund. In 2000, he left Rothschild to found WL Ross & Co. Ross was a banker known for acquiring and restructuring failed companies in industries such as steel, coal, telecommunications and textiles, later selling them for a profit after operations improved, a record that had earned him the moniker "King of Bankruptcy". Ross has been chairman or lead director of more than 100 companies operating in more than 20 countries. In 2017, Ross became commerce secretary in the Donald Trump administration; at age 79, Ross was the oldest first-time Cabinet appointee in U.S. history.

Ross was born on November 28, 1937, in Weehawken, New Jersey, and grew up in nearby North Bergen, New Jersey. His father, Wilbur Louis Ross, was a lawyer who later became a judge, and his mother, Agnes (née O'Neill), of Irish descent, was valedictorian at Sacred Heart Academy in Hoboken and taught third grade in North Bergen for 40 years.

Ross attended Xavier High School, a Catholic school, and college-preparatory school in Manhattan. He ran track and was captain of the rifle team. He graduated in 1955. In 1959, he received a bachelor's degree from Yale College, his father's alma mater. At Yale, Ross edited one of the literary magazines and worked at the radio station. His dream was to be a writer. He enrolled in an English course that required writing a thousand words by 10 a.m. every day; after two weeks, he ran out of things to write about and dropped the course. His faculty adviser at Yale helped him get his first summer job on Wall Street. In 1961, he received a Master of Business Administration degree at Harvard Business School.

In 1963, he joined what became Wood, Struthers & Winthrop. There, he liquidated the portfolio of its venture capital affiliate.

He then worked for Faulkner, Dawkins & Sullivan, an institutional securities research company, where he rose to become president of its investment banking operation. The firm was sold to what became Shearson Lehman.

In 1976, Ross began his 24-year employment with the New York City office of Rothschild & Co, where he ran the bankruptcy restructuring advisory practice. By 1998, Ross was involved in eight of the 25 biggest bankruptcies to date, including Drexel Burnham Lambert, Texaco, Public Service of New Hampshire (now Eversource Energy), and Eastern Air Lines.

In the 1980s, Donald Trump's three casinos in Atlantic City were under threat of foreclosure from lenders. Ross, who was then the senior managing director of Rothschild & Co, represented investors in the casino. Along with Carl Icahn, Ross convinced bondholders to strike a deal that allowed Trump to keep control of the casinos.

In November 1997, under Rothschild & Co, Ross started a $200 million fund to invest in distressed securities. In its first year, it earned a 15.2% return. In April 2000, just before the dot-com bubble burst, Ross founded WL Ross & Co and raised $450 million to buy the fund from Rothschild and make additional investments. By 2003, the fund had averaged a 30% return.

On November 30, 2016, then-President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Ross for Secretary of Commerce. On February 27, 2017, the Senate confirmed Ross in a 72–27 vote. Ross was sworn into office on February 28, 2017.

Ross took office at the age of 79, making him the oldest first-time Cabinet appointee in U.S. history. The previous record-holder was another Secretary of Commerce, Philip Klutznick, who took office in 1980 at the age of 72.

In December 2016, after being designated by Trump as his nominee to lead the Commerce Department, Ross said in a speech to Cypriot financiers that Brexit was a "God-given opportunity" for other countries, such as Ireland and Germany, to draw business away from the United Kingdom's financial services industry. In 2017, Ross said that a trade deal with the UK was a low priority for the Trump administration; however, he outlined possible terms. No U.S. trade deal with the UK was concluded, although Ross and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin stated in January 2020 that they hoped to have an "easy" agreement with the UK that year.

In September 2017, Ross traveled to Beijing as part of efforts to de-escalate trade tensions between the United States and China. In February 2018, the Commerce Department recommended an increase of tariffs in aluminum and steel imports. On March 1, 2018, Trump implemented a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports. In September 2018, Ross said that the tariffs are meant to "modify China's behavior".

In 2018, under Trump and Ross, the U.S. imposed tariffs on the import of steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada, and Mexico. Ross dismissed concerns that the tariffs would increase costs to U.S. consumers, harm the U.S. economy, and damage relations with U.S. allies, saying that tariffs were "blips on the radar screen" and that the EU "will get over this in due course." He also dismissed concerns over EU retaliatory tariffs. In November 2019, Ross indicated that the Trump administration might now also impose tariffs on imports of automobiles from the EU; in January 2020, however, Ross said that the Trump administration might still impose tariffs on European cars despite ongoing trade talks. Also in January 2020, Ross threatened retaliation if the EU adopted a proposed carbon tax, comparing it to a proposed EU digital services tax, to which the administration has also threatened tariffs in response.

On July 23, 2021, the Chinese government sanctioned Ross as part of "reciprocal counter-sanctions" after the U.S. government imposed sanctions on Hong Kong officials.

In 1999, Ross was awarded the Order of Industrial Service Merit medal by South Korean president Kim Dae Jung for his assistance during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He was awarded the American Irish Historical Society Gold Medal in 2014 in recognition of his work in Ireland and Irish-American causes. The Japanese government awarded Ross the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, in recognition of his service as Chairman of the Board of New York's Japan Society, his work to promote and strengthen the Japanese economy, and his relief efforts after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.

Ross is a past director of the Turnaround Management Association and member of its hall of fame. Ross has been the vice-chairman of the board of Bank of Cyprus, the largest bank in Cyprus, after he and his investors invested €400 million in the bank in 2014. As of January 2012, Ross was the leader (or "Grand Swipe") of the secret Wall Street fraternity, Kappa Beta Phi. Ross served on the board of trustees of the Brookings Institution. He is also on the board of advisors of Yale School of Management and is a former board member of the Yale University Art Gallery. He served as International Counsel Member of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, and President of the American Friends of the René Magritte Museum in Brussels. Ross has been on the board of directors of Navigator Gas since March 2012.

Although he was an early supporter of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, Ross was previously a registered Democrat, served as an officer of the New York State Democratic Committee, and held fundraisers for Democratic candidates at his apartment in New York City. He served under President Bill Clinton on the board of the U.S. Russia Investment Fund.

In January 1998, he funded $2.25 million in seed money into the campaign of his then-wife, Betsy McCaughey, who was seeking the Democratic nomination for governor of New York. Since at least 2011, Ross has donated to Republican candidates and organizations.

Ross became a registered Republican in November 2016.

In the 1990s, New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani appointed Ross as his privatization advisor. He helped push to privatize the city's public broadcasting stations and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and worked to sell off empty land lots to businesses.

Ross has described himself as "pro-sensible trade" and said that the U.S. government "should provide access to our markets to those countries who play fair, play by the rules and give everybody a fair chance to compete. Those who do not should not get away with it – they should be punished." Initially in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Ross has said that after examining the agreement, he found it was "not consistent with what was advertised".