Senate confirms Greer to be the US trade representative

Olivia M. Bridges, CQ-Roll Call on Feb 26, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The Senate voted 56-43 on Wednesday to confirm Jamieson Greer to be the U.S. trade representative, a post where he’ll initially be tasked with developing a plan to impose reciprocal tariffs on trade partners on a case-by-case basis.

Greer will carry out President Donald Trump’s trade agenda as the White House ramps up its efforts to impose levies on imports. He will work with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on how to levy the reciprocal tariffs — a tit-for-tat approach to U.S. trade relations. His confirmation also comes as Trump again threatens to place 25% tariffs on goods imports from Mexico and Canada on Saturday.

“Trade policy can play an important role in ensuring that we have the economic security that leads to strong national security. I am convinced that we have a relatively short window of time to restructure the international trading system to better serve U.S. interests,” Greer said in his opening statement at his Feb. 6 confirmation hearing with the Senate Finance Committee.

Greer defended Trump’s trade agenda before the panel. He promised to work closely with the committee and Congress in general to “execute President Trump’s trade agenda.”

Greer will be tasked with carrying out Trump’s Feb. 13 memo calling for a “Fair and Reciprocal Plan” as one of the first steps in Trump’s trade agenda to impose reciprocal tariffs.

The memo directs Lutnick and the U.S. trade representative to investigate the harm of varying tariffs on goods imports and propose remedies. It lays out five categories the administration will examine: tariffs on U.S. goods; “unfair” taxes, including VAT; nontariff barriers; exchange rate policies; and other practices.

A White House fact sheet said the plan “will seek to correct longstanding imbalances in international trade and ensure fairness across the board.”

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, who is a member of the Senate Finance Committee and a long-time free trade advocate, said in a call with reporters Tuesday that Greer shares his views on negotiating trade agreements but that he expects Greer to follow Trump’s lead.

Grassley said that countries in Europe, as well as Brazil, Japan, South Korea, China and, possibly, India are what he calls “trade problems for the United States.”

“Let’s say, take those five or six countries I named that we consider real problems for the United States on trade, because we don’t consider it’s fair. There’s another 185 countries around the globe that we could do a lot of negotiation and probably help the exports of the United States, and that’s what I’m going to point to over the next few months,” Grassley said.

The White House fact sheet singled out the European Union, saying it imposes 10% tariffs on imported cars compared to the U.S. rate of 2.5%. The European Union’s minimum value added tax rate is 15%. But the average standard EU VAT rate is almost 22%, according to the Tax Foundation.

Greer’s confirmation comes days before Trump is set to reimpose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Trump signaled Monday that the tariffs on the two countries will likely go into effect Saturday, in his latest back and forth move on the issue.

The president signed orders that would have imposed the tariffs on the two countries on Feb. 4, but the day before the tariffs were set to be enacted, he reached an agreement with the Mexican and Canadian leaders for a 30-day pause. That reprieve seems to be coming to an end.

Senate Finance ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., raised concerns about Greer being in “lockstep" with Trump at the committee vote, 15-12, to report him favorably to the full Senate. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., was the lone Democrat voting to advance his nomination.

“He seems to have no quarrel with Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with no strategy or plan to leverage them into trade wins for American stakeholders,” Wyden said on Feb. 11.

The tariffs would likely violate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that Greer helped negotiate during the first Trump administration, trade experts warn. Greer signaled during the hearing that he would suggest changes to the USMCA ahead of its scheduled 2026 review. Trump issued a memo Jan. 20 ordering USTR to begin taking public comments on the agreement.