Transition 2016-2017

The White House on Friday confirmed that Gregg Doud, head of the Commodity Markets Council, is President's Trump pick for chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Inside U.S. Trade's Jenny Leonard reported Doud would be the choice on May 26. In its announcement of Trump's intent to nominate Doud, the White House noted that he was once a senior staff member of the Senate Agriculture Committee for Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), the current chairman,...

The White House on Friday confirmed that the president plans to nominate trade attorney Jeffrey Gerrish of Maryland for deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Asia, Europe, the Middle East and industrial competitiveness. Gerrish leads the international trade group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP – the firm USTR Robert Lighthizer left in January. “He has wide-ranging experience on a variety of international trade issues,” the White House said in a statement. “In particular, he has extensive experience litigating...

A group of high-profile economists has written to key senators urging the confirmation of Kevin Hassett to chair the Council of Economic Advisers. “The signers of this letter come from diverse backgrounds, and many of us have served in Democratic and Republican Administrations,” states the letter, sent on June 5 to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and ranking member Sherrod Brown (D-OH). “While we disagree on many issues, as economists we all agree that the Nation would be...

Executives from the Coalition for a Prosperous America, which bills itself as a pro-domestic manufacturing organization, are lauding the administration's early trade actions after meeting last week with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to discuss trade opportunities in the manufacturing and agriculture sectors. “Already we are seeing far more aggressive investigation and enforcement directed at unfair foreign trade practices in a break from past administrations’ reluctant enforcement efforts,” Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA, said in...

The president's senior economic adviser said on Friday that the president, in remarks to EU leaders this week, said he had “a problem with German trade,” not Germans. Reports in German newspapers were widely translated initially on Thursday to suggest Trump called Germans and Germany “very bad,” but as Inside U.S. Trade's Jenny Leonard reported , the German media reports actually suggested the president was referring to Germany's trade surplus with the U.S. Gary Cohn, speaking to a White...

The Senate voted on Monday to confirm Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) as ambassador to China. Branstad, the longest-serving governor in U.S. history, was approved by an 82-13 vote after sailing through a confirmation hearing in early May. Intellectual property theft and continued barriers faced by U.S. agricultural producers were among the top trade issues discussed during that hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Branstad has earned bipartisan praise for his firsthand experience on key issues in the U.S.-China...