US President-Elect, former dubious real estate ‘developer’ and more recently known for appearing in reality TV shows, Donald Trump has appointed a new US Trade Representative and created a special White House council just for trade issues.
Lawyer Robert Lighthizer is to head the US Trade Representative office, Trump’s transition team said Tuesday in a further sign the incoming administration will take a tougher line on China, said Bloomberg Wednesday.
Lighthizer, 69, who was deputy trade representative during the Reagan administration, would replace Michael Froman, the Obama administration’s representative who led negotiations on a Pacific trade pact that would have covered nearly 40 per cent of the global economy and was seen as a counterpoint to China’s rising clout.
Trump’s announcement on Tuesday to nominate Robert Lighthizer as chief trade negotiator gives the industry another major ally in the fight against imports of cheap foreign steel, which US companies blame for spreading a malaise among domestic steel producers, according to Politico, also Wednesday.
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-trade
Lighthizer spent the bulk of his career in private practice representing major US steel companies in trade cases. As a deputy USTR for President Ronald Reagan, he negotiated agreements that forced countries to curtail their steel exports to the US under threat of retaliatory tariffs, said NY Mag Wednesda. His views on trade — critical of China and defensive for US manufacturing — square with those of Commerce Secretary nominee Wilbur Ross and White House adviser Peter Navarro, who was tapped to lead a new National Trade Council.
Trump has created two entirely new positions in government designed to deal with trade. He named Jason Greenblatt, his longtime business lawyer, as his “special representative for international negotiations.” And Peter Navarro, an early Trump backer and economist best known for his manifesto “Death by China,” has been selected to oversee the new National Trade Council.
On Wednesday, Trump announced he is forming a new White House National Trade Council that has one goal: To stop the “exodus of jobs” to China, Mexico and other countries. The council is expected to “make American manufacturing great again.”
The newly-formed White House National Trade Council, which is expected to “advise on innovative strategies in trade negotiations, coordinate with other agencies to assess U.S. manufacturing capabilities and the defense industrial base, and help match unemployed American workers with new opportunities in the skilled manufacturing sector,” according to a press release from the Trump Transition Team obtained by MEMA Washington Insider. The National Trade Council will also lead the “Buy America, Hire America” that aims to support government procurement and projects “ranging from infrastructure to national defense.”
https://www.mema.org/president-elect-trump-forms-white-house-national-trade-council
In a pessimistic — but probably accurate — assessment, the Financial Post said Wednesday:
Canada faces “stormy days” ahead on softwood lumber and other issues with the US after incoming president Donald Trump picked someone with a protectionist bent to be the next US trade representative, says a former Canadian diplomat.
“Whether we’re sideswiped or intentionally targeted I think there’s going to be very tough days ahead on Canada-US trade with Mr. Trump and his trade team,” said Lawrence Herman, an international trade lawyer who represented Canada abroad, including at the World Trade Organization.
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/from-sunny-ways-to-stormy-days-canada-faces-uncertainty-with-new-u-s-trade-representative-former-diplomat-says