After tariff threat, Trump selects Jamieson Greer for U.S. trade representative

President-elect Donald Trump announced a slew of nominations Tuesday, including international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative, Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council and Vince Haley as director of the Domestic Policy Council.

In announcing Greer’s nomination, Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.”

Greer previously served as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former trade representative who is deeply skeptical of free trade. Greet is currently a partner at the King & Spalding law firm in Washington. He was not immediately available for comment.

If confirmed as trade representative, Greer would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization.

The selection comes after Trump on Monday announced plans to impose sweeping 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% tariffs on all imports from China as soon as he is inaugurated in January. 

Trump said the tariffs would remain in place “until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

Meanwhile, economist Kevin Hassett was named director of the White House National Economic Council, bringing into Trump’s administration a major advocate for tax cuts.

Trump said in Tuesday’s announcement that Hassett “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration” and that together they would “renew and improve” the 2017 tax cuts, many of which are set to expire after 2025.

Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017.