‘Frozen out’: Trade hawk Lighthizer unlikely to return for Trump’s second term

“Lighthizer has been a champion of Trump for at least 15 years, and he’s been in the background, giving Trump ideas, and putting Trump in the spotlight. The former Trump administration official close to Lighthizer said his absence makes it more likely that Bessent and Lutnick’s approach to tariffs will win out in the next White House, and there will be less infighting over economic policy than in Trump’s first term, when Lighthizer’s agenda at USTR ran up against Wall Street allies like former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “It appears like he’s being frozen out,” said one person close to the Trump transition team and Lighthizer, who supports a pro-tariff agenda. It’s not a position of statutory authorities.” Some expressed optimism that Lighthizer’s success in reversing the Washington consensus away from free trade policies will make it harder for Wall Street elements in the next Trump administration to buck his trade agenda. “It’s being portrayed both ways, that the Wall Street contingent is now somehow a bunch of tariff-supporting hardliners, and vice versa,” said Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, who worked closely with Lighthizer to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement during Trump’s first term.