Senate Confirms Economic Adviser as Trade Representative

WASHINGTON — Michael Froman, a senior White House economic adviser and classmate of President Obama at Harvard Law School, on Wednesday won Senate confirmation to be the next United States trade representative.

The vote was 93 to 4, elevating Mr. Froman, 50, to the head of an agency now involved in two significant trade deals, including one with the European Union.

Mr. Froman, nominated by Mr. Obama in May, will succeed Ron Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas who resigned as the representative in February after serving through Mr. Obama’s first term and completing free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia.

Mr. Froman has been serving as deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs and has been involved in coordinating White House policy on international trade, investments and energy.

One of his main responsibilities as trade representative will be meeting a goal to complete negotiations this year on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Asian-Pacific trading bloc that includes Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Vietnam, Chile, Singapore, Peru and Japan.

The trade office will also be at the forefront of talks to ease trade with the European Union known as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Those talks are expected to begin next month.

“He’s very smart, he’s very tough, he’s the right person for the job as the United States begins to negotiate trade agreements with Asia, the so-called TPP, as well as trade agreements with the Europeans,” said the Senate Finance Committee chairman, Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, in support of Mr. Froman.

Mr. Froman worked as Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin’s chief of staff during the Clinton administration,

He was a managing partner at Citigroup and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations before joining the Obama administration.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/20/business/senate-confirms-economic-adviser-as-trade-representative.html?partner=rss&emc=rss