Steel Industry Praises Trump’s Appointment of Lighthizer as US Trade Representative

by Jeff Yoders on JANUARY 3, 2017

President-elect Donald Trump named Robert Lighthizer, a former trade official in the Reagan administration and a harsh critic of China’s trade practices, to be his U.S. Trade Representative today, the chief trade negotiator responsible for better deals aimed at reducing U.S. trade deficits.

Trump, who promised during his presidential campaign to renegotiate international trade deals like NAFTA and punish companies that ship work overseas, said in announcing his choice that Lighthizer would help “fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first.”

Lighthizer is a former deputy U.S. trade representative under former Republican President Ronald Reagan who helped to stem the tide of imports from Japan in the 1980s with threats of quotas and punitive tariffs. His return to the agency follows nearly three decades as a lawyer representing U.S. steelmakers and other companies in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases.

“The American Iron and Steel Institute welcomes the president-elect’s nomination of Robert Lighthizer as the U.S. Trade Representative,” said Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the AISI. “Bob’s nomination sends a strong signal regarding the incoming administration’s commitment to address the injury that the steel industry has suffered from unfairly traded imports.”

Gibson went on to say Bob Lighthizer is eminently qualified to serve in this position and his dedication not only to the steel industry — but to the manufacturing sector as a whole — will enable him to have a strong and prominent role in addressing the critical issues that face our companies and workers. He also said AISI looks forward to working with Lighthizer and the new administration on trade enforcement issues in the new year.