Lawyers, loyalists and Wall Street executives: a look at who’s on Trump’s tariff team

WASHINGTON — As president-elect Donald Trump rattles his closest neighbours with threats of tariffs, he is also firming up the team of loyalists to put his plans into action.

Trump’s team to lead his trade agenda and the American economy include trade lawyers, former advisers and Wall Street executives who have all expressed favourable views of tariffs.

“He’s choosing a lot of people who are going to be loyal to him and his ideas,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont. “And that probably will lead to a lot more volatility than even we saw in the first term.”

On Tuesday evening, Trump picked Jamieson Greer to be U.S. trade representative. The president-elect said Greer played a key role in the first Trump administration imposing tariffs on China and negotiating the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement.

If confirmed, Greer will oversee the trade pact’s review in 2026.

“Jamieson will focus the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on reining in the country’s massive trade deficit, defending American manufacturing, agriculture, and services, and opening up export markets everywhere,” Trump said in a statement.

Greer was the chief of staff to former U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer as the trilateral agreement was being crafted to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was torn up last time Trump entered office.

Greer’s nomination came the day after Trump said he will impose a 25 per cent import tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico. He has also announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on goods from China.

Trump said the tariffs against Canada and Mexico would remain in place until both countries stop people and drugs, in particular fentanyl, from illegally crossing the border into the U.S.

A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report suggested Trump’s previous pledge to impose a 10 per cent levy would take a $30-billion bite out of the Canadian economy. More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S. and trade comprises 60 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product.

Some economists have warned across-the-board duties would cause inflation in the U.S., even though Trump campaigned on lowering costs for Americans.

Greer was deeply involved in Trump’s original sweeping tariffs on China and subsequent negotiations on the U.S.-China Phase 1 trade agreement, online biographies say.

In testimony about China’s trade agenda at a House trade subcommittee last year, Greer said he believes “good fences make good neighbours, and trade enforcement is an important part of establishing those fences.”

On Tuesday, Trump also tapped Kevin Hassett to be the director of the White House National Economic Council. The role will be key in fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to fix the U.S. economy.

His announcement said Hassett will also “ensure that we have fair trade with countries that have taken advantage of the United States in the past.”

Hassett served during the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and the president-elect has called him a “true friend.”

The latest nominations round out an economic team that includes hedge fund executive Scott Bessent for Treasury secretary and Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, who was tapped for commerce secretary.

If confirmed by the Senate, Lutnick would oversee a sprawling cabinet agency and Trump’s tariff agenda.

He has been a vocal supporter of Trump’s tariff plans. In an CNBC interview in September he said tariffs are “an amazing tool for the president to use — we need to protect the American worker.”

Lebo said as Trump prepares to return to office he is removing any person who could prove to be a guardrail or check on his power.

“These are people aligned with Trump,” Lebo said. “More and more aligned with his campaign rhetoric.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press