Veteran trade reporter Doug Palmer of Politico has a piece (subscriber only) in which he discusses possible U.S. Trade Representatives in a Biden administration. Here are the names he mentions, broken into two categories set out in the article:
Favored by progressives:
Thea Lee (president of the Economic Policy Institute)
Mike Wessel (commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission)
Kim Glas (president of the National Council of Textile Organizations)
Lori Wallach (director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch)
Beth Baltzan (trade lawyer who worked at USTR and House Ways and Means)
Other names:
Pete Buttigieg (former presidential candidate)
Katherine Tai (chief trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee)
Jayme White (chief trade adviser for Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee)
Sherrod Brown (Democratic Senator from Ohio)
Ron Kind (Democratic Congressman from Wisconsin)
Jimmy Gomez (Democratic Congressman from California)
Cedric Richmond (Democratic Congressman from Louisiana)
Jennifer Hillman (former USTR general counsel, WTO Appellate Body judge, and ITC Commissioner)
Nelson Cunningham (former general counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee)
Michael Punke (former U.S. ambassador to the World Trade Organization)
Miriam Sapiro (former acting and deputy U.S. trade representative)
Fred Hochberg (former head of the U.S. Export-Import Bank)
If Biden goes with one of the moderate folks for U.S. Trade Rep., there may be value in giving at least some position at USTR (or in the White House) to one of the names favored by progressives. Progressive-moderate unity seems important for Democrats if they want to get things accomplished in general, and trade policy is no different.
