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 battle towards China to execute a sweeping tariff agenda that guarantees to upend world 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 Providers, and opening up Export Markets in every single place,” Trump mentioned in an announcement.
Greer, 44, served as chief of workers to Trump’s former US commerce consultant, Robert Lighthizer, the architect of Trump’s authentic tariffs on some US$370 billion value of Chinese language imports and the renegotiation of the North American free commerce cope with Canada and Mexico.
On this position, Greer participated with Lighthizer in all negotiations with Chinese language officers by means of the signing of a “Section 1” commerce cope with Beijing in January 2020. Below that settlement, China pledged to purchase some US$200 billion value of US items over two years, a objective 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 instances, left USTR in Might 2020 to affix the King & Spalding legislation agency in Washington. There, he has represented shoppers together with home producers in commerce treatment instances, export and import compliance and funding safety issues.
Lighthizer known as Greer an “wonderful alternative” 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 many years making ready for this chance to guide the commerce challenge for the subsequent 4 years.”
Trump had beforehand named Wall Road CEO Howard Lutnick to guide his commerce technique as head of the Commerce Division, together with “direct duty” for USTR.