Robert Lighthizer

Robert Emmet Lighthizer (/ˈlaɪthaɪzər/; born October 11, 1947) is an American attorney and government official who was the U.S. Trade Representative in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2021.

After he graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973, Lighthizer joined the firm of Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C. He left the firm in 1978 to work as chief minority counsel and later staff director and chief of staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance under Chairman Bob Dole. In 1983, Robert Lighthizer was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for President Ronald Reagan. In 1985, Lighthizer joined the Washington office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom as a partner and led the firm's international trade group. On January 3, 2017, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Lighthizer as his U.S. Trade Representative. Lighthizer was confirmed by the Senate on May 11, 2017, by a vote of 82–14.

Lighthizer was an architect of American trade policy during Trump's first presidency. He played a key role in the administration's renegotiation of NAFTA. Many of these trade policies have been preserved, and in some cases extended, by the Biden administration.

Lighthizer was born on 11 October 1947 to Orville James and Michaelene Lighthizer in Ashtabula, Ohio, where his father practiced medicine. He attended Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio, and later graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1969 and a Juris Doctor in 1973.

After graduating from law school, Lighthizer joined Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. as an associate attorney. In 1978, Lighthizer left Covington & Burling to work for Senator Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who at the time was the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. When Dole became Chairman of the Finance Committee in 1981, Lighthizer became the committee's staff director and chief of staff. While working for the committee, he helped shepherd through President Ronald Reagan's tax cuts and Social Security reform. In the 1980s, Lighthizer hired fellow Georgetown Hoya Patrick Ewing as an intern.

In 1983, during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, Lighthizer was nominated and confirmed to serve as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative under William Brock. During his tenure, Lighthizer negotiated over two dozen bilateral international agreements, including agreements on steel, automobiles, and agricultural products. As Deputy USTR, Lighthizer also served as vice chairman of the board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

In 1985, Lighthizer joined the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (Skadden) as a partner. He practiced international trade law at Skadden for over 30 years, representing American workers and businesses ranging from manufacturing to financial services, agriculture, and technology. While at Skadden, Lighthizer worked to expand markets to U.S. exports and defended U.S. industries from unfair trading practices. He defended the steel industry in particular.

Lighthizer served in a senior position in the 1988 presidential campaign of U.S. senator Bob Dole. In 1996, he served as the treasurer of the Dole campaign.