Trump to Nominate Lighthizer for USTR

President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate Robert Lighthizer, a lawyer with Skadden Arps, as U.S. Trade Representative, Trump's transition team said in a news release (here). Lighthizer, who was a deputy USTR under President Ronald Reagan, "is going to do an outstanding job representing the United States as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first,” Trump said. “He has extensive experience striking agreements that protect some of the most important sectors of our economy, and has repeatedly fought in the private sector to prevent bad deals from hurting Americans. He will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity.”

There will be close coordination between Wilbur Ross, Trump's pick for Commerce secretary, and Peter Navarro, head of the new White House National Trade Council, "to develop and implement policies that shrink our trade deficit, expand economic growth, strengthen our manufacturing base and help stop the exodus of jobs from our shores." Lighthizer emerged as contender for the USTR job when he was named to Trump's "landing team" for the USTR transition (see 1611220047). Exactly how the USTR will fit within trade discussions in the new administration has been a topic of discussion among transition officials in recent weeks (see 1612280016 and 1612200018).

"Despite conclusions reached after the appointments of Ross and Navarro, USTR’s role in formulating trade policy won’t be diminished, but dramatically altered," said Daniel Ikenson, director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies.​ While China and NAFTA are administration focal points now, trade enforcement with Europe may become an early issue for Trump's trade policy team as tax reform and border adjustment ideas take shape amid possible World Trade Organization compliance concerns (see 1612190022), Ikenson said in blog post (here). "The EU is likely to come under greater scrutiny because Trump and the GOP Congress want to overhaul the tax code, and some of the changes being considered may run afoul of U.S. WTO obligations, possibly prompting complaints from Brussels. Having added leverage to suppress formal EU complaints about border tax adjustments seems like it would dovetail neatly with Trump’s approach." Lighthizer is also a vocal critic of the WTO and its dispute settlement body, Ikenson said.

While at Skadden, Lighthizer has represented "American manufacturers in many of the largest and most significant trade cases of the last 25 years, such as the steel safeguard case of the early 2000s -- the last time any president granted global safeguard relief," the Trump news release said. "He has worked on scores of successful cases that resulted in reducing unfair imports and helping thousands of American workers and numerous businesses." Lighthizer also did some lobbying work, mostly on behalf of U.S. Steel, according to the Senate lobbying database. A 2009 lobbying report (here), the last such report Lighthizer was named in, showed lobbying work on antidumping and countervailing duty provisions and domestic preference programs, among other things. More recently Lighthizer represented U.S. Steel before the Court of International Trade on CV duty rates (see 13041027).

Congressional leaders sounded eager to develop new trade agreements alongside Lighthizer and Trump, who promised to seek some major changes in existing trade policy. "Armed with bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority, the incoming Trump Administration has a unique opportunity to pursue new, bilateral trade pacts of the highest caliber that can be submitted to Congress for an up or down vote with no amendments," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a release (here). "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 access to new markets for American-made products and services, protect our intellectual property rights abroad, and ensure domestic businesses can successfully compete in the 21st century global economy." House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, offered similar sentiments (here).

Initial reactions from congressional Democrats were largely positive. Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said he looks forward to hearing how Lighthizer plans to develop "a trade policy that is as effective for the millworker in Medford, Oregon, as it is for the software developer in Silicon Valley." Wyden also took a shot at Trump's use of Twitter to lay out policy. “It is well past time for the incoming administration to explain its approach toward international trade beyond 140 characters," he said in a news release (here). Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal, D-Mass., said (here) the nomination "could signal a welcome move in a new direction for the Republican party, if he is able to overcome the resistance he is likely to face within his party.” The USTR didn't immediately comment.

Even Public Citizen, a progressive advocacy group, expressed admiration for the Lighthizer pick as a welcome shift from the trade policy interests of past administrations. “Lighthizer is very knowledgeable about both technical trade policy and the ways of Washington, but what sets him apart among high-level Republican trade experts is that for decades his views seemed to be shaped by the pragmatic outcomes of trade agreements and policies rather than fealty to any particular ideology or theory,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch (here). “I don’t know that he would agree with progressive critics of our status quo trade policies about alternative approaches, but he also has had quite a different perspective on trade policy than the Republican congressional leaders and most of Trump’s other cabinet nominees who have supported the [Trans-Pacific Partnership] and every past trade deal.”