Donald Trump reportedly picks lawyer Robert Lighthizer as U.S. trade representative

Donald Trump and Melania Trump.
(Image credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump is expected to tap Robert Lighthizer, a lawyer who served as deputy trade representative under President Ronald Reagan, as head of the U.S. Trade Representative office, a person with knowledge of the decision said Monday.

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative oversees trade negotiations, creates international trade and investment policy, and represents American interests at the World Trade Organization. As a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, Lighthizer has extensive experience with trade litigation and giving policy advice to major U.S. corporations. Two other people were considered for the position, Bloomberg Politics reports: Jovita Carranza, deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration under President George W. Bush and a onetime executive with UPS, and Dan DiMicco, the former head of Nucor Corp.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.