WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- President-elect Donald Trump announced a slew of nominations Tuesday, including international trade attorney Jamieson Greer to be his U.S. trade representative, Kevin Hassett as director of the White House National Economic Council and Vince Haley as director of the Domestic Policy Council.
In announcing Greer's nomination, Trump said Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, "therefore making it much better for American Workers."
Greer previously served as chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, Trump's former trade representative who is deeply skeptical of free trade. Greer, a partner at the King & Spalding law firm in Washington, was not immediately available for comment.
If confirmed as trade representative, Greer would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization.
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Economist Kevin Hassett was named director of the White House National Economic Council, bringing into Trump's administration a major advocate for tax cuts.
Trump said in Tuesday's announcement that Hassett "will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration" and together they would "renew and improve" the 2017 tax cuts, many of which are set to expire after 2025.
Hassett, 62, served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. He has a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and worked at the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute before joining the Trump White House in 2017.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump reached a required agreement with President Joe Biden's White House to allow his transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce before taking office Jan. 20.
The congressionally mandated agreement allows transition aides to work with federal agencies and access nonpublic information and gives a green light to government workers to talk to the transition team.
Trump declined to sign a separate agreement with the General Services Administration that would have given his team access to secure government offices and email accounts, in part because it would require that the president-elect limit contributions to $5,000 and reveal who is donating to his transition effort.
The White House agreement was supposed to have been signed by Oct. 1, according to the Presidential Transition Act, and the Biden White House issued both public and private appeals for Trump's team to sign on.
The agreement is a critical step in ensuring an orderly transfer of power at noon on Inauguration Day, and lays the groundwork for the White House and government agencies to begin to share details on ongoing programs, operations and threats. It limits the risk that the Trump team could find itself taking control of the massive federal government without briefings and documents from the outgoing administration.
As part of the agreement with the White House, Trump's team will have to publicly disclose its ethics plan for the transition operation and make a commitment to uphold it, the White House said. Transition aides must sign statements that they have no financial positions that could pose a conflict of interest before they receive access to nonpublic federal information.
Biden himself raised the agreement with Trump when they met Nov. 13 in the Oval Office, according to the White House, and Trump indicated his team was working to get it signed.
Trump chief of staff-designate Susie Wiles met with Biden's chief of staff Jeff Zients at the White House on Nov. 19 and other senior officials in part to discuss remaining holdups, while lawyers for the two sides spoke more than a half-dozen times in recent days to finalize the agreement.
"Like President Biden said to the American people from the Rose Garden and directly to President-elect Trump, he is committed to an orderly transition," said White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma. "President-elect Trump and his team will be in seat on January 20 at 12 pm - and they will immediately be responsible for a range of domestic and global challenges, foreseen and unforeseen. A smooth transition is critical to the safety and security of the American people who are counting on their leaders to be responsible and prepared."
Without the signed agreement, Biden administration officials were restricted in what they could share with the incoming team. Trump national security adviser-designate Rep. Mike Waltz met recently with Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan, but the outgoing team was limited in what it could discuss.
"We are doing everything that we can to effect a professional and an orderly transition," White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Monday. "And we continue to urge the incoming team to take the steps that are necessary to be able to facilitate that on their end as well."
"This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power," said Wiles in a statement.
The Trump transition team says it would disclose its donors to the public and would not take foreign donations.
A separate agreement with the Department of Justice to coordinate background checks for vetting and security clearances is still being actively worked on and could be signed quickly now that the White House agreement is signed. The agency has teams of investigators standing by to process clearances for Trump aides and advisers once that document is signed.
That would clear the way for transition aides and future administration appointees and nominees to begin accessing classified information before Trump takes office. Some Trump aides may hold active clearances from his first term in office or other government roles, but others will need new clearances to access classified data.
Trump's team on Friday formally told the GSA that it would not utilize the government office space blocks from the White House reserved for its use, or government email accounts, phones and computers during the transition.
The White House said it does not agree with Trump's decision to forgo support from the GSA, but is working on alternate ways to get Trump appointees the information they need without jeopardizing national security. Federal agencies were receiving guidance Tuesday on how to share sensitive information with the Trump team without jeopardizing national security or nonpublic information.
For instance, agencies may require in-person meetings and document reviews since the Trump team has declined to shift to using secure phones and computers. For unclassified information, agencies may ask Trump transition staff to attest that they are taking basic safeguards, like using two-factor authentication on their accounts.
"The signing of this agreement is good news, and a positive step toward an effective transfer of power," said Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service. "This agreement unlocks direct access to information from federal agencies, which is vital for the incoming administration to be ready to govern on Day One and critical to the transition's success."
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