The United States should be a ‘country of producers,’ says Jamieson Greer.
Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump’s pick to be the nation’s top trade negotiator, vowed to recalibrate the global trade system and advance the new administration’s sweeping agenda.
In November, the president chose Greer, 44, as the next U.S. trade representative. As trade representative Robert Lighthizer’s chief of staff during Trump’s first-term trade war against China, Greer was an integral presence throughout negotiations with Beijing.
In his nearly four-hour Feb. 6 confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Greer discussed a wide range of issues with lawmakers, from tariffs to trade agreements.
Tariffs
Democrats pounced on the latest skirmish surrounding Trump’s tariff threats against Canada and Mexico, which they said had created significant uncertainty that has hurt U.S. businesses and cost households.
“America had its first taste of Trump’s rancid trade policy this week,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, adding that Trump has put the global economy on “a month-to-month lease.”
Greer defended tariffs as a potential tool for gaining economic leverage in negotiations to foster fair and balanced trade. This can help facilitate broad-based wage and income gains for American workers, he said.
Additionally, Greer said, levies can help address national security issues, including border security and fentanyl trafficking.
This week, Trump paused the tariffs on Canada and Mexico for at least 30 days after receiving commitments from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to press ahead on his $1.3 billion border security plan and other measures, including appointing a fentanyl czar.
Economists say tariffs between North American neighbors would take a massive toll on economic growth and job prospects.
For Greer, it is a delicate balancing act.
“How do we balance the cost of lives lost to fentanyl against the potential cost?” he stated.
However, while Democratic panelists expressed worries about the potential economic impact on the United States, Greer pointed to events from Trump’s first term.
“What we’ve learned from the first term is that President Trump and his economic team are very good at managing the economy, and we saw real median household income go up by $7,000 over three years before the pandemic hit, and this was at the top of tariffs,” he said.
Greer anticipates similar trends over the next four years.
USMCA
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) will be revisited next year as part of the six-year review provision.
When asked what specific changes he would advocate for during the review process, Greer alluded to rules of origin, which ensure that other nations do not benefit from the USMCA at the expense of the United States.
The USMCA’s rules of origin provision identifies certain products qualifying for preferential treatment. These include products entirely grown, harvested, or manufactured in one of the USMCA countries.
“I think we need to look closely at things like the rules of origin to make sure that third countries or foreign countries of concern are not inadvertently or deliberately benefiting or free-riding on the agreement at the expense of America and our trading partners,” Greer said.
He would also take another look at the USMCA’s rapid-response labor mechanism to ensure that Mexico, for example, is not illegally suppressing wages to prevent it from garnering an unfair trade advantage.
“If a foreign country is engaging in unfair trade practices, you can investigate that, and you could impose section 301 tariffs on products like steel,” he said.
He accepted that the United States has issues with Canada’s dairy and Mexico’s energy, requiring accountability on all sides.
“It’s important for the political and economic sustainability of that agreement, our trade relationship, trade relationships with Canada and Mexico, that these issues be addressed and be addressed in a timely way,” Greer said.
China’s Phase One Trade Deal
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the United States and China reached a landmark trade agreement, effectively ending the two-year trade strife.
Beijing committed to purchasing $200 billion of U.S. goods, including cotton and soybeans. However, years later, China has failed to live up to the commitments of the first phase of the trade pact.
A 2022 Peterson Institute for International Economics analysis determined that China only purchased approximately 60 percent of the U.S. exports it pledged to buy.
Trump directed the U.S. Trade Representatives to review China’s compliance and non-compliance and address the shortfalls.
Greer promised to examine the compliance review and “quickly go about enforcing compliance.”
“I think it is of critical importance that if China wants to trade with the United States and have a healthy economic relationship—if that’s possible—that a lot of it is going to be predominantly fair market access for our exporters,” he said.
Overall, according to Greer, it is about having a “balanced relationship” between the world’s two largest economies.
Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) said that while she thinks blanket tariffs would hurt U.S. workers, she is willing to work together “to take on China’s cheating when it comes to trade.”
Trade Deficit
The U.S. trade deficit is one of Greer’s most significant concerns heading into this role.
“I have concerns about the trade deficit. I think it’s unsustainable. I think it’s harmful,” Greer told lawmakers.
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the trade gap widened to a higher-than-expected $98.4 billion in December, up from $78.9 billion in the previous month. This was the highest trade deficit since the record was registered in March 2022.
The jump was fueled by a 3.5 percent acceleration in imports and a 2.6 percent decline in exports.
Last year, the gap surged 17 percent from 2023 to $918 billion, the largest increase since 2021. Imports climbed nearly 7 percent, and exports rose about 4 percent.
Greer believes this trend can be reversed by resolving unfair trade practices surrounding imports and ensuring the United States can export more goods and services to new and existing markets.
“I expect the Trump administration will have a competitive energy policy, tax policy, regulatory policy, permitting policies that only help us be more competitive in these foreign markets,” he said.
“I have to be able to go to these countries and explain to them that if they want to enjoy continued market access to the United States, we need to have better reciprocity.”
In addition, Greer advocated strategically targeted tariffs that can boost domestic production and reviewing current trade deals to ensure they benefit U.S. workers.
Greer noted that the United States should be a “country of producers.”
“We need to create incentives to produce in America and to gain market access overseas,” he said.