US president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named as his chief trade negotiator a Washington lawyer who has long advocated protectionist policies, the latest sign that Trump intends to fulfill his campaign promise to get tough with China, Mexico and other trading partners.
Trump also renewed his episodic campaign to convince US companies to expand domestic manufacturing, criticizing General Motors via Twitter on Tuesday morning for making in Mexico some of the Chevrolet Cruze hatchbacks it sells domestically.
Hours later, Trump claimed credit after Ford said it would expand vehicle production in Flat Rock, Michigan.
The choice of Robert Lighthizer as trade representative nearly completes Trump’s selection of top economic advisers and, taken together with the president-elect’s running commentary on Twitter, underscores Trump’s focus on making things in the US. That is causing unease among some Republicans who regard Trump’s views on trade as dangerously retrograde, even as they embrace the bulk of his economic agenda.
Mainstream economists warn that protectionist policies such as import taxes could impose higher prices on consumers and slow economic growth.
However, some Democrats are signaling a readiness to support Trump.
Nine Democrats in the US House of Representatives held a news conference on Tuesday with American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations president Richard Trumka to urge the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.
“We wanted him to know that we’ll work with him on doing that,” Trumka said. “I don’t think he has enough Republican support to do it and rewriting the rules of trade is a necessary first step in righting the economy for working people.”
Trump and his top advisers on trade, including Lighthizer, share a view that the US in recent decades prioritized the ideal of free trade over its own self-interest.
They argue that other countries are undermining the US’ industrial base by subsidizing their own export industries while impeding US importers. They regard this as a key reason for the lackluster growth of the US economy.
In picking Lighthizer, who has spent much of the past few decades representing US steel producers in their frequent litigation of trade disputes, Trump is seeking to hire one of Washington’s top trade lawyers to enforce international trade agreements more vigorously. He must be confirmed by the US Senate.
“He will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity,” Trump said in a statement.
Mainstream Republicans have sought common ground with Trump, emphasizing, for example, the importance of enforcing trade rules, but they have not abandoned the party’s longtime advocacy for trade.
Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which is to hold hearings on Lighthizer’s nomination, issued a cautiously supportive statement on Tuesday.
“As the world and our economic competitors move to expand their global footprints, we can’t afford to be left behind in securing strong deals that will increase our access to new markets for American-made products and services,” Hatch said. “I look forward to a vigorous discussion of Bob’s trade philosophy and priorities.”
Trump has named a number of advisers on trade, leaving some ambiguity about the division of responsibilities.
Trump named the economist Peter Navarro, an outspoken critic of China, to lead a new White House office overseeing trade and industrial policy.
Trump also said Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor and choice for US secretary of commerce, is to play a key role. However, Lighthizer is the only member of the triumvirate with government experience.
“Those who say USTR [US Trade Representative] will be subordinated to other agencies are mistaken,” said Alan Wolff, another former senior US trade official who was the steel industry’s joint-counsel on trade with Lighthizer for nearly 20 years, citing Lighthizer’s encyclopedic knowledge of trade law.
“He’ll be a dominant figure on trade,” he added.
There is also an ideological divide between the people Trump has named to oversee trade policy and his broader circle of advisers, which is populated by long-standing trade advocates such as Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn, who will lead the US National Economic Council; Exxon Mobil chief executive officer Rex Tillerson, tapped for US secretary of state; and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, Trump’s choice for ambassador to China.
Proponents of trade hope the broader circle, and Republicans in US Congress, would exert a moderating influence.
“You’re seeing a pretty clear indication that there will be a focus on the enforcement of our trade agreements and on the letter of the law,” said Scott Lincicome, an international trade lawyer at White & Case. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean a significant turn toward protectionism. Even free-trade guys like me support enforcement.”
Trade opponents on the left and the right, meanwhile, are hoping Trump means to break with several decades of pro-trade policy.
“There’s going to be a war within the Trump administration on where they go with trade, and we’re hoping to energize the worker base he had to make sure they go in the right direction to benefit the American worker,” Trumka said.
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