Senate Confirms New US Trade Representative - East Idaho News
News

Senate Confirms New US Trade Representative

  Published at

GETTY MichaelFromanTradeRep?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1371697596905Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The Senate has confirmed President Obama’s nomination of Michael Froman to be the new United States Trade Representative.
 
Froman, a close confidant of the president, has served on the National Economic Council and National Security Council. He has known Obama since their days together at Harvard Law School. He replaces Ron Kirk, who stepped down in April.
 
Froman was confirmed by a vote of 93-4, with one senator voting present.
 
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., objected to his confirmation and urged her colleagues to join her in opposition. She called for “a new direction from the Trade Representative,” and criticized him for what she called a lack of transparency in trade deals. Only three Democrats followed her lead.
 
Froman, who also served in the Clinton administration under Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, has been one of the president’s closest economic advisers. He will be central to future trade agreements, including negotiations with 11 Pacific nations and the European Union in the coming weeks.
 
The vote concluded at 6:33 p.m. Senator Richard Blumenthal was presiding.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

SUBMIT A CORRECTION