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President Barack Obama will round out his second-term Cabinet nominations on Thursday as he announces the long-awaited pick of Penny Pritzker for commerce secretary and also taps Michael Froman to be the next U.S. trade representative.
A White House official confirmed the president will announce the nominations at the White House at 10:15 a.m. before heading off on a three-day trip to Mexico and Costa Rica.
Continue ReadingIf confirmed, she’d fill a post that’s been vacant since John Bryson resigned amid health problems last June.
(PHOTOS: Obama's second-term Cabinet)
Pritzker, a longtime Chicago-based Obama fundraiser, is a businesswoman and sits on the board of her family’s Hyatt Hotels empire. That experience, according to a White House official, makes her “one of the most accomplished and highly respected women in business today.”
But the pick also draws attention to the failure of a bank partially owned by the Pritzker family and to Hyatt’s turbulent relationship with labor unions, though labor groups held off criticizing Pritzker on Thursday morning.
Pritzker was previously considered for the Commerce job in late 2008, but was not ultimately nominated. There were concerns then that she was too controversial a pick in the midst of the financial crisis, especially as other Cabinet nominees were facing heightened scrutiny.
But after a lengthy vetting process this time around the White House decided to go with Pritzker, and an official said Thursday there is confidence that she will have an easy path to confirmation in the Senate.
“She has all the attributes — she knows business, she’s close to the president, she has strong relationships,” Bill Daley, the former Obama White House chief of staff and Clinton commerce secretary, told POLITICO.
Froman, who currently serves as an assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for international economics, has been deeply involved in the Obama administration’s trade agenda for the past four years, working from the White House on the finalization of trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, and leading the administration’s preparations for major economic summits.
Mickey Kantor, a former U.S. trade representative and commerce secretary who worked with Froman during the Clinton administration, said the pick is a smart one. “He’s going to be a terrific USTR. He knows the issues, he knows the people, he knows everyone in the White House, he’s familiar with the challenges and the opportunities of the USTR.”
Froman’s nomination is also getting support from the business community, which sees him as someone with the authority to act as a strong intermediary between Obama and trade partners.
“What other countries always look for when they talk is some sense if the guy they are talking to can deliver,” said Bill Reinsch, the president of the National Foreign Trade Council. “Is he really speaking for the government? If he makes a deal, can it stick? With Mike, there is a high level of confidence that he would be able to do that.”
Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Donohue said in a statement Thursday that his group will support Froman, who “has the vision and experience to deliver new trade opportunities for American workers and companies at the negotiating table.”
