POLITICO Quotes Brian Pomper, Clete Willems on Katherine Tai USTR Nomination

For its article “At USTR, a straight-shooter will have to navigate Biden’s old guard in Washington,” POLITICO quoted Akin Gump public law and policy practice co-head Brian Pomper and partner Clete Willems on Biden nominee for U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

The article discusses the possibility that Tai might have to compete with the President’s Obama-era allies to influence trade policy.

Pomper, who served as chief international trade counsel to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, said, “You could have a circumstance when someone like [Secretary of State Tony] Blinken, with a longstanding personal relationship with the president, could seek to dominate these [trade] issues. But regardless of the idea that she’s a staffer being elevated to a Cabinet position, I think it would be much more likely for a USTR who wasn’t a subject matter expert to be marginalized than someone who is a real subject expert.”

Willems, who served in the Trump White House as Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economics and previously worked alongside Tai at the Office of the USTR, said, “She has tons of credibility across the Democratic Party, across the political spectrum, and with Republicans.” He noted that Tai has the ability to devise unusual solutions that can “bridge factions.”

He added that what Tai brings to the table “is a significant substantive knowledge…not only of the issues, but the state of play.” Willems noted that former Trump USTR Robert Lighthizer “knew trade really well but he wasn’t part of the D.C. apparatus on every issue. And you name it, whether it’s China the WTO, or [free trade agreements] Katherine is in the middle of all of this, so her learning curve is going to be very limited.”