Lighthizer named as US trade representative

WASHINGTON: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named veteran steel industry trade lawyer Robert Lighthizer, a harsh critic of China's trade practices, to be his chief trade negotiator, responsible for better deals aimed at reducing U.S. trade deficits.

Trump announced his selection in a statement from his transition team on Tuesday, saying Lighthizer would help "fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first."

Lighthizer is a former deputy U.S. trade representative during the Reagan administration, where he helped to stem the tide of imports from Japan in the 1980s with threats of quotas and punitive tariffs.

He returns to lead the agency after nearly three decades as a lawyer representing U.S. steelmakers and other companies in anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases, helping to establish import duties that have reduced Chinese steel imports by billions of dollars.