Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, is one of the first Republicans to publicly endorse the nomination of Katherine Tai to be the U.S. Trade Representative, calling her experience as the top House Ways and Means trade lawyer good background for the Cabinet post.
“I'm glad that Katherine Tai is the likely nominee,” Portman said during a discussion with other former USTRs hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “I think that will help in terms of moving a trade agenda forward vis-a-vis Congress because she, obviously, knows how we operate, understands (trade promotion authority) well.”
Portman served as USTR under the George W Bush administration.