President-elect Trump selected Jamieson Greer to serve as his U.S. trade representative on Tuesday.
Greer, an aide in the trade office during Trump’s first term, will help steer the president-elect’s trade agenda.
Greer is a partner at King & Spalding, and the scope of his work includes “trade remedies, trade policy and negotiations, trade agreement enforcement, export and import compliance and CFIUS matters.”
The University of Virginia School of Law graduate served as chief of staff to Trump’s first-term U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer. Trump said in the Tuesday announcement that Greer will focus his office on “reining in the Country’s massive Trade Deficit, defending American Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Services, and opening up Export Markets everywhere.”
The news of his selection comes a day after Trump said he would impose new tariffs on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada on his first day in office. The president-elect said he would implement 25 percent tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10 percent tariff on China’s goods in hopes of forcing the U.S. trade partners to improve border security and work on curbing fentanyl trafficking coming into the U.S.
“Jamieson 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,” Trump said.
Greer is an Air Force veteran and has deployed to Iraq. The cabinet-level post is involved in creating trade policy and trade negotiations with other nations. The agency has over 200 employees and offices in Washington, Geneva, Switzerland and Brussels. Greer will need to be confirmed by the Senate which will have a GOP majority early next year.
