Campaign

Trump to meet with potential Trade Representative pick

by Ben Kamisar - 12/20/16 11:28 AM ET

President-elect Donald Trump is meeting with Jovita Carranza, a former deputy at President George W. Bush’s Small Business Administration, on Tuesday as he considers her as his Trade Representative.

Transition spokesman Jason Miller that Carranza, who is meeting with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, “is being looked at for that position.”

If Trump nominates Carranza, she’ll be the first Hispanic Cabinet-level pick in his administration. The lack of any Hispanic Cabinet nominees so far has earned criticism for Trump, with the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials blasting it in a press release today as a “historic step backwards.”

During the campaign, Trump appointed Carranza to his National Hispanic Advisory Council.

Trump also met with two members of his Trade Representative landing team, Dan DiMicco and Robert Lighthizer, over the past five days.

{mosads}Trump’s calls for an “America First” trade policy and reluctance to support free-trade deals and were major pieces of his presidential campaign. Miller pointed to that stance as a key reason why Trump won over states in the Rust Belt and with strong blue-collar populations.

Miller added that while the USTR and the Commerce Department will work hand in hand, Commerce Secretary-designate Wilbur Ross will “ultimately direct much of the administration’s trade policy at the direction of President-elect Trump.”

“Mr. Ross is someone who not only has negotiated some very good deals over his lifetime, he’s also someone who worked very closely with the president-elect crafting his trade policy,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, Trump will meet with Luis Quinones, a businessman who owns his own healthcare services company and a member of Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Committee. He’ll also sit down with Dr. Toby Cosgrove, the CEO of The Cleveland Clinic hospital who was just named to Trump’s business partnership.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet with two cabinet designees — Rex Tillerson and Ben Carson, who have been tapped to lead the State Department and Housing and Urban Development, respectively. Pence is also slated to meet with Bill Bennett, President Ronald Reagan’s former secretary of Education.

Tags Donald Trump Mike Pence