The BYU grad at the heart of Trump's trade war
The Trump administration may have left its toughest task this week to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, a 44-year-old alumnus of Brigham Young University from Paradise, California.
Greer, who learned to speak fluent French during a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Brussels, Belgium, will be representing the United States at the annual meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, France, on Wednesday.
There, Greer will attempt to advance tariff negotiations with trade ministers from top economies like Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Japan and South Korea. He is also scheduled to meet with officials from India, Malaysia, Vietnam and the European Union.
'I speak to (the president) on nearly a daily basis,' Greer told CNBC on Friday. 'When it comes to the pure economics, we have problems with all kinds of countries, friend or foe, and we are trying to resolve those.'
But hanging over Greer's diplomatic efforts is a shifting policy environment complicating his mandate to translate President Donald Trump's vision of a remade international order that benefits American manufacturing into concrete trade deals with foreign allies and adversaries.
Last week, a U.S. trade court ruled unanimously that Trump lacked the authority from Congress to impose blanket tariffs on imports from around the world. On Thursday, a federal court granted the administration's request to keep the tariffs in place while they appeal the ruling.
On Friday, Trump accused China of breaking a trade war truce, with Greer alleging on CNBC that Chinese counterparts had been 'slow-rolling' their reversal of export bans on rare-earth materials, a claim Chinese officials rejected on Monday in a statement.
Also on Friday, Trump announced an increase in steel tariffs from 25% to 50%, set to take effect on Wednesday, drawing rebukes from trade partners, including EU officials who said the move 'undermines ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution.'
Despite his difficult position, however, Greer's former mentors, law partners and associates say there are few people more prepared than Greer to balance the demands of a Trump White House with the realities of foreign relations and the needs of American workers.
Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer remembers exactly why he recruited Greer — then a JAG attorney in the Air Force — to work at his practice representing American producers harmed by unfair trade. And it had nothing to do with Greer's policy expertise.
'He didn't know international trade at all when I hired him,' Lighthizer said in an interview with the Deseret News. 'But he was a person of character and a patriot, so that's a pretty good foundation to start the analysis.'
Greer's working-class background paired with his experience abroad made him open to Lighthizer's worldview as the chief intellectual proponent of Trump-style tariffs to reduce trade deficits and boost made-in-America-products, according to Lighthizer.
Raised in a mobile home, with parents taking multiple jobs to make ends meet, Greer understood 'the struggles that Americans face when they are cut out of economic growth' because they aren't on a 'level playing field' with other countries, as Greer said during congressional testimony in February.
Representing only domestic companies, Lighthizer led a team of lawyers at the Washington, D.C., office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, who he said were guided by the philosophy that protecting stable, well-paying manufacturing jobs would, in turn, 'help maintain families, which help maintain communities, which is the reason the country is strong.'
Under the tutelage of Lighthizer, who had served as the deputy U.S. trade representative for President Ronald Reagan, Greer and others were 'taught' this brand of trade law from the basics, according to Stephen Vaughn, who worked with Greer both at Skadden and at his current firm King & Spalding.
Instead of approaching international trade from the perspective of spreadsheets and formulas, their representation of actual American factories gave Greer a firsthand look at how some free trade agreements had let foreign countries take advantage of U.S. companies, Vaughn said.
'So today, when he goes in and sits down with these other countries, he has an enormous experience in terms of not just what it looks like in an economics textbook, but what it looks like in the real world,' Vaughn said.
When Lighthizer was tapped as Trump's first trade representative in 2017, Skadden became a pipeline to the White House, with Greer and Vaughn taking charge of the Office of the United States Trade Representative while Lighthizer awaited congressional approval.
For the next few years, Vaughn served as Lighthizer's general counsel and Greer worked as his chief of staff, where, according to Vaughn, Greer made a name for himself as an effective advocate for Lighthizer and the president's views on international trade.
'He's brilliant — he's one of the most talented people I've ever dealt with,' Vaughn told the Deseret News. 'But he's a very grounded person.'
During Trump's first term, Greer developed the skills he would need to later fill Lighthizer's shoes, helping to craft trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, South Korea and Japan, while implementing a package of tariffs on Chinese imports, according to Steve Orava, who worked with Greer as chair of King & Spalding's international trade practice based in Brussels.
'It's taking what the president wants to do, which is often very general, and coming up with the legal pathways,' Orava told the Deseret News. 'And sometimes that takes creativity, it takes coalition building, it takes communication with others in order to make that happen.'
But as Lighthizer's chief of staff Greer also developed the all-important relationship with Trump that would allow the president to entrust him with trade policy negotiations during his second administration.
In one notable interaction, Greer flew with Trump on Air Force One to visit Greer's hometown of Paradise in 2018 where the deadliest wildfire in California history had taken the lives of 85 individuals and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, including the home of Greer's parents, who Greer had arranged to meet with Trump on the airport tarmac.
As Trump's trade representative in 2025, Greer has been a loyal defender of the president's norm-breaking agenda, with his historic 'Liberation Day' declaration of global 10% tariffs, threats of steeper levies on countries with large trade imbalances and a series of sector-specific duties on steel, aluminum and auto parts.
Despite dramatic impacts on the stock market, and predictions of increased costs for companies and prices for consumers, Greer has said Trump's policies are 'already bearing fruit,' are unlikely to cause inflation and are 'common sense' reforms to address the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and industrial base capacity.
In this belief, there is no daylight between Greer and the populist right's role model of economic policy, Lighthizer, according to Mark DiPlacido, a policy adviser at the conservative think tank American Compass, who briefly served under Greer as the deputy assistant trade representative for public affairs.
'Lighthizer, he more than anyone else, has probably been the most influential on the trade policy side of the 'new right' for a lot of government and policy professionals,' DiPlacido said. 'And Jamieson seems to be taking a similar approach.'
It's a 'very complicated job' that Greer has before him, Lighthizer said, navigating fluctuating signals from the White House, maintaining relationships with offended international partners and collaborating closely with a dysfunctional Congress.
Lighthizer expects Greer to be 'one of the stars' of the second Trump administration because he 'knows in his heart what the objective is,' which is to create 'an economic system that emphasizes American production and the American worker that leads to the overall strength of America.'
Jonathan Freedman, the CEO of World Trade Center Utah, said he hopes the administration's priorities will be able to expand manufacturing options in the state, which has led the nation in manufacturing job growth since 2019.
It is always an advantage to have someone with a relationship to Utah in a cabinet-level position, according to Freedman. And Greer has made his office open to feedback, reaching out to businesses across the country with open comment periods to share how they have been impacted by tariffs.
Ultimately, any shift in international trade policy significantly impacts Utah business operations, Freedman said. Especially for those companies that rely on components and raw materials only found out of the country.
'The USTR has a tough job; he's in the middle of high pressure, complex negotiations with foreign countries, and the result of those negotiations have significant impact on Utah businesses,' Freedman said.
'I'm not sure that prior U.S. trade representatives have been involved with as ambitious of trade negotiations, and I think that Ambassador Greer is doing his best to thread the needle.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Meta Platforms (META) Unveils Advanced AI Model Focused on Physical Reasoning
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) is one of the best stocks to buy. On June 11, Meta rolled out V-JEPA 2, a refined AI model that strengthens the system's capacity to understand and predict physical gestures. The newly introduced model empowers robots and intelligent agents with stronger situational awareness and predictive skills, crucial for fostering AI systems that "think before they act." By analyzing video footage, the model developed an understanding of real-world patterns, such as human-object contact, kinetic movement, and inter-object interactions. Testing in Meta's research facilities confirmed the model could guide robots in executing actions like reaching for, lifting, and placing items elsewhere. Three new benchmarks have been released by Meta to help measure the effectiveness of current models in interpreting real-world interactions via video. By sharing these benchmarks, Meta hopes to accelerate progress in the AI research community. Meta underlined the importance of physical reasoning as a cornerstone for equipping AI systems to interact effectively with the tangible world and to attain higher levels of artificial intelligence. While we acknowledge the potential of META as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None.
New York Post
44 minutes ago
- New York Post
Trump and Rubio secure Rwanda-Congo peace treaty amid Pakistan's Nobel Prize nomination
President Donald Trump announced on Friday he and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had secured a 'wonderful' treaty between Rwanda and Congo, as Pakistan formally nominated him for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. 'I am very happy to report that I have arranged, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a wonderful Treaty between the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of Rwanda, in their War, which was known for violent bloodshed and death, more so even than most other Wars, and has gone on for decades,' Trump wrote in a Truth Social announcement. The president noted representatives from Rwanda and the Congo will be in Washington on Monday to sign documents. He went on to discuss his chances at winning a Nobel Peace Prize, claiming he wouldn't get one, 'no matter what I do.' 'This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World,' Trump wrote in the post. 'I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for this, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia (A massive Ethiopian built dam, stupidly financed by the United States of America, substantially reduces the water flowing into The Nile River), and I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for doing the Abraham Accords in the Middle East which, if all goes well, will be loaded to the brim with additional Countries signing on, and will unify the Middle East for the first time in 'The Ages!' 6 President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio speak with reporters at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, NJ on June 8, 2025. AP 'No, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that's all that matters to me!' On Wednesday, India refuted claims by Trump that he had stopped the war between Pakistan and India. Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri wrote in a news release that 'talks for ceasing military action happened directly between India and Pakistan through existing military channels, and on the insistence of Pakistan,' according to a report from Reuters. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated India 'has not accepted mediation in the past and will never do,' Misri noted in the statement. 6 Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosts a Declaration of Principles signing ceremony with representatives from the Congo and Rwanda at the State Department on April 25, 2025. AP The mention of a Nobel Peace Prize came nearly two hours after the Government of Pakistan published a lengthy post on X, formally recommending Trump for the honor. 'The Government of Pakistan has decided to formally recommend President Donald J. Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis,' the post read. 'The international community bore witness to unprovoked and unlawful Indian aggression, which constituted a grave violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity, resulting in the tragic loss of innocent lives, including women, children, and the elderly.' 6 Members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo during a presentation in Goma, DRC on May 10, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 6 President Joe Biden meets with DR Congo President Felix Tshisekedi durign the G20 of World Leaders Summit in Rome, Italy on Oct. 30, 2021. POOL/AFP via Getty Images Pakistani leaders said at a moment of heightened regional turbulence, Trump demonstrated 'great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship' through 'robust diplomatic engagement' with both Islamabad and New Delhi, securing a ceasefire. 'This intervention stands as a testament to his role as a genuine peacemaker and his commitment to conflict resolution through dialogue,' the post continued. 'The Government of Pakistan also acknowledges and greatly admires President Trump's sincere offers to help resolve the longstanding dispute of Jammu and Kashmir between India and Pakistan—an issue that lies at the heart of regional instability. 'President Trump's leadership during the 2025 Pakistan India crisis manifestly showcases the continuation of his legacy of pragmatic diplomacy and effective peace-building. Pakistan remains hopeful that his earnest efforts will continue to contribute towards regional and global stability, particularly in the context of ongoing crises in the Middle East, including the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza and the deteriorating escalation involving Iran.' 6 Rwanda President Paul Kagame delivers a speech in Kigali, Rwanda on April 7, 2025. Getty Images 6 The Nobel Peace Prize during the production process in Eskilstuna, Sweden, on Oct. 29, 2019. AFP via Getty Images According to The Nobel Prize's website, to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, a person must be a 'qualified nominator,' which includes national governments, heads of state, previous award winners, and members of specific international organizations. The nomination process is confidential, and entries are due by Jan. 31, hence the 2026 nomination.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
If EPS Growth Is Important To You, HomeChoice International (JSE:HIL) Presents An Opportunity
For beginners, it can seem like a good idea (and an exciting prospect) to buy a company that tells a good story to investors, even if it currently lacks a track record of revenue and profit. But as Peter Lynch said in One Up On Wall Street, 'Long shots almost never pay off.' A loss-making company is yet to prove itself with profit, and eventually the inflow of external capital may dry up. Despite being in the age of tech-stock blue-sky investing, many investors still adopt a more traditional strategy; buying shares in profitable companies like HomeChoice International (JSE:HIL). Now this is not to say that the company presents the best investment opportunity around, but profitability is a key component to success in business. Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. Generally, companies experiencing growth in earnings per share (EPS) should see similar trends in share price. That makes EPS growth an attractive quality for any company. Impressively, HomeChoice International has grown EPS by 34% per year, compound, in the last three years. If growth like this continues on into the future, then shareholders will have plenty to smile about. It's often helpful to take a look at earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margins, as well as revenue growth, to get another take on the quality of the company's growth. Not all of HomeChoice International's revenue this year is revenue from operations, so keep in mind the revenue and margin numbers used in this article might not be the best representation of the underlying business. HomeChoice International maintained stable EBIT margins over the last year, all while growing revenue 21% to R4.4b. That's progress. You can take a look at the company's revenue and earnings growth trend, in the chart below. Click on the chart to see the exact numbers. See our latest analysis for HomeChoice International HomeChoice International isn't a huge company, given its market capitalisation of R3.4b. That makes it extra important to check on its balance sheet strength. It's said that there's no smoke without fire. For investors, insider buying is often the smoke that indicates which stocks could set the market alight. Because often, the purchase of stock is a sign that the buyer views it as undervalued. Of course, we can never be sure what insiders are thinking, we can only judge their actions. It's worth noting that there was some insider selling of HomeChoice International shares last year, worth R1.4m. But that doesn't beat the large R3.8m share acquisition by Non-Independent Executive Chair Shirley Maltz. So, on balance, that's positive. You can't deny that HomeChoice International has grown its earnings per share at a very impressive rate. That's attractive. Growth in EPS isn't the only striking feature with company insiders adding to their holdings being another noteworthy vote of confidence for the company. In essence, your time will not be wasted checking out HomeChoice International in more detail. However, before you get too excited we've discovered 5 warning signs for HomeChoice International (2 are a bit concerning!) that you should be aware of. There are plenty of other companies that have insiders buying up shares. So if you like the sound of HomeChoice International, you'll probably love this curated collection of companies in ZA that have an attractive valuation alongside insider buying in the last three months. Please note the insider transactions discussed in this article refer to reportable transactions in the relevant jurisdiction. — Investing narratives with Fair Values Vita Life Sciences Set for a 12.72% Revenue Growth While Tackling Operational Challenges By Robbo – Community Contributor Fair Value Estimated: A$2.42 · 0.1% Overvalued Vossloh rides a €500 billion wave to boost growth and earnings in the next decade By Chris1 – Community Contributor Fair Value Estimated: €78.41 · 0.1% Overvalued Intuitive Surgical Will Transform Healthcare with 12% Revenue Growth By Unike – Community Contributor Fair Value Estimated: $325.55 · 0.6% Undervalued View more featured narratives — Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
