Trump announces picks for economic, health posts
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced a set of economic advisers he wants to appoint for his administration, including international trade attorney Jamieson Greer as his pick to be the U.S. trade representative.
Greer served in Trump’s first administration as the chief of staff to the trade representative, and Trump said Tuesday that Greer played a key role in both imposing tariffs on China and in the creation of a new trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
Trump said Kevin Hassett is his choice to lead the White House National Economic Council.
Hassett led the Council of Economic Advisers during Trump’s previous term. Trump said in the new role, Hassett would work to “renew and improve” a set of tax cuts implemented in 2017 and “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration.”
Trump also announced Tuesday several health-related nominees, including his choice of health economist Dr. Jay Bhattacharya to lead the National Institutes of Health.
Bhattacharya was a sharp critic of lockdowns and vaccine mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump said Bhattacharya will work with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), “to direct the Nation’s Medical Research, and to make important discoveries that will improve Health, and save lives.”
“Together, Jay and RFK Jr. will restore the NIH to a Gold Standard of Medical Research as they examine the underlying causes of, and solutions to, America’s biggest Health challenges, including our Crisis of Chronic Illness and Disease,” Trump said.
Another nomination announced Tuesday was Trump’s pick of former HHS official Jim O’Neill to serve as the agency’s deputy secretary.
Trump also said he was nominating private investor John Phelan to serve as secretary of the Navy.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump’s transition team announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Biden administration about the process of starting to work with federal agencies.
A statement from Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, said, “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.”
Wiles’ announcement said the transition will use only private funding, and the donors will be disclosed to the public.
The Trump-Vance transition team will not use government offices or technology, Wiles said. She added that the transition has an existing ethics plan and “security and information protections built in, which means we will not require additional government and bureaucratic oversight.”
The signing of the MOU means that teams from the transition will “quickly integrate directly into federal agencies and departments with access to documents and policy sharing,” Wiles’ announcement said.
Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and JP.