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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
-
Crossword: September 14, 2025The Week's daily crossword puzzle
-
Sudoku medium: September 14, 2025The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new highSpeed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
