Wilbur Ross has been confirmed as the new secretary of commerce. Apparently, Ross is on board with Trump’s denunciation of “disastrous” trade deals and their “stupid” negotiators, although, in his confirmation, his vow was only to oppose deals, like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), that he did not consider “sensible.”
From his experience of having companies bankrupted, in part, by international competition, Ross brings valuable experience to Trump’s intentions to negotiate bilateral trade deals, while modifying or scrapping multilateral or regional agreements.
Trump overthrew Republican orthodoxy to denounce trade deals that opened up international markets. Even before trying to hang NAFTA and China’s World Trade Organization accession around Hillary ClintonHillary Rodham ClintonMoulitsas: Owning Trump’s failures New commerce chief must help restore nation’s faith in trade WH: Kansas shooting ‘act of racially motivated hatred’ MORE’s neck, he used trade as a key issue to eliminate his 16 rivals for the Republican nomination.
