Trump picks Lighthizer to serve as trade representative
WASHINGTON - US President-elect Donald Trump is expected to pick Robert Lighthizer to serve as his US Trade Representative, tapping a seasoned trade negotiator to enact a key aspect of his agenda, senior transition officials said on Monday.
Lighthizer served as a deputy US trade representative with the rank of ambassador under Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, according to a biography posted on the web site of Skadden Arps, the law firm where he is currently a partner. In the decades since he has represented US clients in antidumping cases and pushed to open access to foreign markets, the biography says.
As Trump's trade representative, Lighthizer would play a key role in enacting a get-tough policy that could heighten tensions with China and other key US trading partners.
However, he likely will not serve as the main architect of Trump's trade policy. According to a transition spokesman, that role will go to billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, who Trump has picked to serve as Commerce Secretary.
