Robert Lighthizer named US trade representative

Lighthizer served as the Deputy US Trade Representative under the Ronald Regan administration

US President-elect Donald Trump roped in Regan-era official and fierce China critic Robert Lighthizer as his trade ambassador who will be in charge of negotiating deals and engaging in trade relationships with other countries. 

Lighthizer, a prominent trade attorney who, served as the Deputy United States Trade Representative under the Ronald Regan administration, would replace Mike Froman as the US Trade Representative. During his stint in the Regan Administration, Lighthizer played a major role in developing trade policy and negotiating roughly two dozen bilateral international agreements on a variety of topics from steel to grain.

These agreements were uniformly tough and frequently resulted in significant reductions in the shipment of unfairly traded imports into the United States, the presidential transition team said.