On January 26, 2021, Josh Finestone and Ashley Craig were quoted in FreightWaves on what role Gina Raimondo will play in implementing President Biden’s economic and trade agenda if the U.S. Senate, as expected, confirms her as secretary of commerce.
As governor of Rhode Island, Raimondo, a Harvard and Yale Law School graduate, was a strong advocate for offshore wind energy and built up Rhode Island’s workforce development program. Earlier, she helped found a venture capital firm.
Raimondo’s confirmation will not be contentious because GOP lawmakers are happy Biden nominated someone with her qualifications, said Finestone. Other than some questions about her policies on broadband and fisheries, she should have an easy process, he added.
Craig said he’s been told Raimondo will reestablish the long-standing U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade — a forum for addressing bilateral trade matters and promoting commercial opportunities between the nations that the Trump administration shut down — as part of an effort to level-set relations and reopen dialogue.
Craig surmised that Raimondo will also continue the traditional Commerce role of promoting exports and could also pick up where Secretary Penny Pritzker left off at the end of the Obama administration in seeking solutions to chronic congestion at major container ports.
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