Trump Taps Kevin Hassett to Lead National Economic Council
President-elect Donald J.Trump selected Kevin Hassett on Tuesday to be the director of the White House National Economic Council, giving an adviser who served as his top economist during his first term a leading role in steering his economic agenda.As the director of the N.E.C., Mr.
Hassett will work closely with the Treasury secretary to push forward Mr.Trump’s economic plans, focused on cutting taxes, increasing tariffs and expanding energy production.
The role is one of the most expansive in the administration and will put Mr.Hassett at the center of the most pressing policy debates.Mr.
Trump has been rounding out his economic team, having last week picked Scott Bessent to run the Treasury Department and Howard Lutnick, the former chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, to lead the Commerce Department.Those positions, unlike the N.E.C.
directorship, require Senate confirmation.Mr.Trump also selected Jamieson Greer, a lawyer and former Trump official, to lead the Office of the United States Trade Representative.Mr.
Greer is a partner in international trade at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm.During Mr.
Trump’s first term, he served as chief of staff to Robert E.Lighthizer, the trade representative at the time.
He was involved in the Trump administration’s trade negotiations with China, as well as the renegotiation of NAFTA with Canada and Mexico.Although Mr.Trump has considered giving top economic jobs to Mr.
Lighthizer and Peter Navarro, a China hawk who previously served as his trade adviser, the president-elect instead settled on candidates that some would view as more moderate.Mr.Hassett was an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, when Mr.
Trump chose him to serve as the administration’s top academic economist in 2017.In that role, he was a vocal defender of Mr.
Trump’s tax cuts and trade policies.He departed the administration in mid-2019.Since leaving Mr.
Trump’s White House, ...