WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is turning to two officials with experience navigating not only Washington but the key issues of income taxes and tariffs as he fills out his economic team.
Trump announced Tuesday that he has selected international trade lawyer Jamieson Greer as his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council.
While Trump has in several cases nominated outsiders to key posts, these choices reflect a recognition that his reputation will likely depend on restoring public confidence in the economy.
The president-elect also announced several other key staff picks, including Vince Haley, who led Trump’s speechwriting department during his first term, as director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade deal with Canada and Mexico during his first term, “making things much better for American workers.”
Greer previously served as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former trade representative, who is highly skeptical of free trade. Greer is currently a partner at the Washington law firm King & Spalding. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
If appointed trade representative, Greer would be responsible for direct negotiations with foreign governments on trade agreements and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization.
He told The New York Times in June that the view of Trump officials was that tariffs “can especially help support American manufacturing jobs, especially to the extent that they redress an unfair trade practice.”
His nomination comes a day after Trump vowed to impose massive new tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States — including a 25% tax on all products entering the country from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China – as one of the most important measures. of its first executive orders.
As director of the White House National Economic Council, Hassett brings a key advocate for tax cuts to the Trump administration.
Trump said Hassett “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation caused by the Biden administration” and that together they would “renew and improve” the 2017 tax cuts, many of which came after will expire in 2025.
Hassett, 62, served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the first Trump term. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017.
As part of Hassett’s retirement announcement in 2019, Trump called him a “true friend” who did a “great job.” Hassett became a fellow at the Hoover Institution, based at Stanford University. He later returned to government to help fight the pandemic.
In Trump’s second term, Hassett would join a White House that wants to preserve and expand the 2017 tax cuts at a time when deficit pressures are weighing on federal borrowing costs.
He has argued that the tax cuts have helped meaningfully increase household incomes. The inflation-adjusted median household income increased by more than $5,400 in 2019 to $81,210. But the tax cuts also came with higher budget deficits, as any economic gains could not offset lost revenues. This has posed a challenge for the new Trump administration to keep debt under control even as it cuts taxes and tries to contain inflation.
Also included in Tuesday’s nomination announcements was private investor, campaign donor and art collector John Phelan, chosen to serve as secretary of the Navy. Phelan co-founded MSD Capital, the private investment firm of Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies. It is unclear whether Phelan served in the Navy or Army.
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Boak reported from Nantucket, Massachusetts. Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.
