By the end of Tuesday, day eight of the Canada-U.S. trade war, Ontario Premier Doug Ford had backed down on a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity going to the U.S. that was supposed to go into effect that day. 

It came after a "productive conversation" between Ford and U.S. commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, who agreed to meet Ford on Thursday. 

Lutnick has been making the rounds on U.S. cable networks selling Trump's tariffs and ripping into Canada's response. He was also on the call last week between Prime Minister Trudeau and Trump, and has been in constant communication with Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc.

So, who is Howard Lutnick? What kind of negotiator is he? What does he believe?

Dan Alexander is a senior editor at Forbes Magazine. He recently wrote a profile on Lutnick titled "The most hated guy on Wall Street: the unspoken story around Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick for commerce secretary".