The Senate voted 82-14 Thursday evening to confirm Robert Lighthizer as U.S. trade representative. The vote gives Trump a trade skeptic as the nation’s chief negotiator with other countries.
Lighthizer is a lawyer who has represented the manufacturing and agriculture sectors in his private practice and served as deputy U.S. trade representative under President Ronald Reagan. Lighthizer has been a long-time defender of Trump’s skeptical approach to international trade deals.
“I agree with President Trump that we should have an America first trade policy and that we can do better in negotiating our trade agreements and stronger in enforcing our trade laws,” he said at his Senate confirmation hearing in March.
Lighthizer’s was the last major presidential appointed position unfilled in the administration Thursday’s confirmation came just hours after the Senate voted 81-15 to move to a final vote. The confirmation had been delayed by Senate Democrats who said Lighthizer needed a special waiver from Congress because he had represented foreign clients.
Congress included the waiver in its recent spending bill funding the government for the rest of the fiscal year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., invoked cloture on Lighthizer’s nomination early this week.
