WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday (Nov 26) selected commerce lawyer Jamieson Greer as his new US commerce consultant, elevating a key veteran of his first-term commerce warfare in opposition to China to execute a sweeping tariff agenda that guarantees to upend international commerce.
“Jamieson will focus the Workplace of the US Commerce Consultant on reining within the Nation’s large Commerce Deficit, defending American Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Companies, and opening up Export Markets in every single place,” Trump mentioned in a press release.
Greer, 44, served as chief of employees to Trump’s former US commerce consultant, Robert Lighthizer, the architect of Trump’s authentic tariffs on some US$370 billion price of Chinese language imports and the renegotiation of the North American free commerce take care of Canada and Mexico.
On this position, Greer participated with Lighthizer in all negotiations with Chinese language officers via the signing of a “Section 1” commerce take care of Beijing in January 2020. Underneath that settlement, China pledged to purchase some US$200 billion price of US items over two years, a purpose by no means achieved, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Greer, who beforehand labored with Lighthizer on the legislation agency Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, on metal commerce treatment circumstances, left USTR in Could 2020 to hitch the King & Spalding legislation agency in Washington. There, he has represented shoppers together with home producers in commerce treatment circumstances, export and import compliance and funding safety issues.
Lighthizer referred to as Greer an “glorious selection” for USTR.
“He is aware of the legislation and has nice judgment. He works across the clock and he agrees with and is loyal to the president,” Lighthizer mentioned in an emailed assertion. Greer “has spent a long time getting ready for this chance to steer the commerce problem for the subsequent 4 years.”
Trump had beforehand named Wall Avenue CEO Howard Lutnick to steer his commerce technique as head of the Commerce Division, together with “direct duty” for USTR.
