WASHINGTON — US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to be secretary of the Education Department. He also selected Mehmet Oz, a former television talk show host and heart surgeon, to head the agency that oversees health insurance programs for millions of older, poor and disabled US citizens, and named Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick to lead the Commerce Department.

McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump's initial term from 2017 to 2019. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

"Linda will use her decades of leadership experience, and deep understanding of both education and business, to empower the next generation of American students and workers," Trump said.

Oz, who ran a failed 2022 bid to represent Pennsylvania in the US Senate, has in recent days expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr's nomination for the nation's top health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

"Oz will be a leader in incentivizing disease prevention, so we get the best results in the world for every dollar we spend on healthcare in our great country," Trump said in a statement.

As the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz would report to Kennedy.

Lutnick, meanwhile, will have a key role in carrying out Trump's plan to raise and enforce tariffs as commerce secretary, Trump said. Lutnick is a cryptocurrency enthusiast and head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social. He said Lutnick "will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the office of the United States Trade Representative".

The nomination would put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling Cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather.

Agencies Via Xinhua