President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Jamieson Greer as the next US trade representative. Greer knows this area very well, having worked as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, the trade representative in the first administration led by the former president.
At that time, the government implemented tariffs on imports from China and other countries and signed the agreement with Mexico and Canada (USMCA). Since winning the election, Trump has repeatedly promised to promote new tariffs on products from these three nations since his first day in the White House until, he said, the countries in question prevent the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs across the border.
For his part, then, if confirmed by the Senate, Greer will assume this new office at a rather peculiar time for the U.S. “Jamieson will focus the Office of the US Trade Representative on reining in the Country’s massive Trade Deficit, defending American Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Services, and opening up Export Markets everywhere,” Trump said, “he played a key role during my First Term in imposing Tariffs on China and others to combat unfair Trade practices, and replacing the failed NAFTA deal with USMCA, therefore making it much better for American Workers.”
The president-elect also described the new tariffs as a tool that can be used to punish other countries and boost U.S. manufacturing. The threat of new tariffs could also be a tactic to renegotiate the USMCA with the two neighboring nations.
Speaking about trade and tax policies, in June Greer said: “If you level out that playing field, it makes it so that Americans don’t have to compete unfairly.”
Recently, the new “hawk” of the Trump 2.0 government has been working as a partner in the team of the law firm King & Spalding, always dealing with trade policies and agreements.
