Ms. Tai will confront key decisions like whether to keep a trade deal with China and tariffs imposed on foreign products by the Trump administration.
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Katherine Tai, a former trade lawyer for the Obama administration and Congress, as the next U.S. trade representative, and the first Asian-American and woman of color to hold the post. As trade representative, Ms. Tai is expected to draw on her experience finalizing a trade deal between the United States, Canada and Mexico and litigating trade cases against China to strictly enforce U.S. trade laws. Her nomination was approved by a vote of 98-0. Ms. Tai assumes the role of trade representative at a moment when the Democratic Party’s stance on trade policy has shifted away from a conventional focus on speeding flows of goods and services to lift economic growth. Instead, both Democrats and Republicans have increasingly criticized the downsides of past trade deals, which greatly benefited some American workers but left others unemployed and struggling, and promised to take a different approach.
