Trump’s trade representative approved by Senate

Donald Trump has managed to get another nomination through the Senate.

Jamieson Greer squeaked by with a vote of 56-43.

Five Democrats crossed the aisle to support his nomination to the US Trade Representative, with one Republican voting against him.

He’s Through

Greer has a big task ahead of him, as Trump wants him to implement a very aggressive tariff plan. This plan has drawn significant criticism from the left, with the talking heads saying that Trump’s plan will only increase inflation.

Greer has supported the plan openly, including during his confirmation hearing, when he backed the plan to impose a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada if they did not help with the border issues.

Greer told the Senate committee, “These are things where — it’s hard to do this. How do we balance the cost of lives lost to fentanyl against other potential costs?”

Trump has also stated that he wants to fix the trade deficit as well as hit countries with reciprocal tariffs that are charging tariffs on US goods going to their country.

Greer also pointed out that some countries are flooding the United States with products, while we do not have the same in return, such as Vietnam.

Greer stated, “We have a lot of trading partners like this that enjoy very substantial trade access in the United States, and we don’t have reciprocal access going the other way. For me, this is a huge problem.”

Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) had nothing but high praise for Greer, who also worked in the first Trump administration.

Crapo stated, “He understands USTR’s policymaking since he served as its chief of staff.

“At USTR, he distinguished himself as an effective negotiator in his work on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, which overwhelmingly passed Congress. As many of my Democrat colleagues know firsthand, he worked closely with them on their priorities for USMCA.”

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote “no” on the nomination even though numerous Republicans had concerns.

Senators Gary Peters (D-MI), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), John Fetterman (D-PA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO) crossed the aisle to support the nomination.

With one Republican Senator out due to a medical condition, the GOP now only holds a two-seat advantage in the Senate.