Trump’s new special assistant on international trade, investment and development on the National Economic Council once helped guide negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Andrew Quinn, a former deputy chief negotiator of the TPP who was hired by the agency as deputy assistant USTR in 2012, joined the council on Monday.
[Adam Behsudi| February 28, 2016 |Politico]
The pick by NEC Director Gary Cohn could be another sign that the former Goldman Sachs leader is putting in place a more conventional trade team that could act as a counterweight to the newly formed National Trade Council led by ardent economic nationalist Peter Navarro.
Cohn also announced that Ray Starling will serve as special assistant for agriculture, trade and food assistance. The former chief of staff for Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) followed the lawmaker to Washington from North Carolina, where he worked as a general counsel for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and was a senior agriculture adviser in the state’s general assembly.
The White House also announced that Kenneth Juster, an alumnus of the Commerce and State departments, will serve as deputy director of the NEC in addition to his previously announced role on the National Security Council as deputy assistant to the president for international economic affairs.
