As President-elect Donald Trump assembles his economic team, he is turning to two individuals with experience navigating not only Washington but also important problems such as income taxes and tariffs.
Trump announced on Tuesday that he has appointed international trade attorney Jamieson Greer as his U.S. trade representative and Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council.
While Trump has appointed outsiders to critical positions in the past, these appointments show a knowledge that his reputation would most likely be dependent on restoring public trust in the economy.
The president-elect also named other key officials, including Vince Haley, who directed Trump’s speechwriting department during his first term, as director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Trump said in a statement that Greer was key in slapping tariffs on China and others during his first term, as well as revising the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American workers.”
Greer formerly worked as chief of staff for Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former trade representative who is extremely critical of free trade. Greer is presently a partner with Washington-based law firm King & Spalding. He was not immediately accessible to comment.
If confirmed as trade representative, Greer would be in charge of personally negotiating trade agreements and disputes with other governments, as well as membership in international trade organizations such as the World Trade Organization.
In June, he told The New York Times that Trump officials believe tariffs “can help support U.S. manufacturing jobs in particular, especially to the extent that they’re remediating an unfair trade practice.”
His nomination comes only a day after Trump threatened 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, as well as an additional 10% tariff on imports from China, as one of his first executive orders.
Hassett’s appointment as director of the White House National Economic Council adds a strong supporter of tax cuts to Trump’s administration.
Trump stated 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 slated to expire in 2025.
Hassett, 62, chaired the Council of Economic Advisers throughout President Trump’s first term. He earned a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and previously worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump administration in 2017.
Trump referred to Hassett as a “true friend” who done a “great job” during his goodbye announcement in 2019. Hassett joined Stanford University’s Hoover Institution as a fellow. He then returned to the administration to assist with the pandemic.
In Trump’s second term, Hassett would join a White House that is attempting to retain and expand its 2017 tax cuts at a time when deficits are dragging on government borrowing prices.
He claims that the tax reduction helped to significantly increase household incomes. In 2019, inflation-adjusted median family income increased by more than $5,400, reaching $81,210. However, the tax cuts resulted in bigger budget deficits as any economic improvements failed to offset lost revenues, posing a problem for the future Trump administration to manage the debt while cutting taxes and attempting to control inflation.
John Phelan, a private investor, campaign donor, and art collector, was also named Navy secretary at Tuesday’s nomination announcements. Phelan co-founded MSD Capital, the private investment firm owned by Michael Dell, the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies. It’s unclear if Phelan served in the Navy or the military.
