Portman secures US trade post

[cal04]

THE US Senate has confirmed Republican politician Rob Portman as the nation's new trade representative.

In a midnight vote, the 49-year-old Portman was approved to succeed Robert Zoellick as the US government's top envoy responsible for promoting international trade liberalisation, officials said today.

Mr Zoellick, who now serves as the senior deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, earned a reputation for being a tough negotiator in trade spats with the European Union and at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). At his nomination hearing before the Senate Finance Committee last week, Mr Portman underscored his strong allegiance to free-market principles. "I believe the first job of the trade representative must be to open markets for American workers and farmers, thereby creating more and better-paying jobs here at home," he said.

His first official overseas visit in his new post will be to Paris next week for a meeting of trade ministers from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. A close ally of President George W. Bush, Mr Portman has served on the influential Ways and Means Committee, which handles trade and taxation legislation in the US House of Representatives. Before arriving in Congress 12 years ago, he worked as an international trade lawyer.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15132603%255E1702,00.html

[hedda_foil]

1. Bull farking shit!

"I believe the first job of the trade representative must be to open markets for American workers and farmers, thereby creating more and better-paying jobs here at home," he said.