President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet is now being filled as he announces nominations and aims to have a diversified set.
He started nominating members of his Cabinet and White House team.
Key positions in Biden's Cabinet include White House chief of staff, Office of Management & Budget director, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Council of Economic Advisers chairman, United States Trade Representative ambassador, Small Business Administration administrator, US Ambassador to the United Nations, and Director of National Intelligence.
The Cabinet includes the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.
The top nominees for prominent positions are Anthony Blinken as Secretary of State, Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary, Lloyd Austin as Defense Secretary, Tom Vilsak as Agriculture Secretary, Marcia Fudge as Housing and Development, Pete Buttigieg as Transportation Secretary, and Katherin Tai as US trade representative.
The appointment of Tai is considered as Biden’s intent to shape a more multilateral trade approach to promote U.S. trade interests and address widening economic competition from China.
Tai would be responsible for carrying out the country’s import rules and brokering trading with other countries, including China.
In a press release on Thursday, Tai is hailed as a key to critical insights as Biden’s team assesses the trade deal that President Donald Trump sealed with China.
“Her deep experience will allow the Biden-Harris administration to hit the ground running on trade, and harness the power of our trading relationships to help the U.S. dig out of the COVID-induced economic crisis and pursue the President-elect’s vision of a pro-American worker trade strategy,” the Biden transition team wrote.
Tai would replace trade czar Robert Lighthizer, who implemented a forceful tact in negotiations with China. Though Tai may prefer multilateral enforcement mechanisms compared to Lighthizer, her leadership as USTR does not suggest a change to the cold stance toward China. She believes that China must be dealt with forcefully and strategically.
Biden's transition
Biden announced his administration's plan as he introduced the team he formed to fight the coronavirus pandemic. It came the same day President Donald Trump issued an executive order that aims to prioritize coronavirus vaccine shipments to the US before other countries.
For his first 100 days as US president, Biden plans to get at least 100 million Americans vaccinated, sign a mandate asking people to wear face masks, and get the children back to school safely.
At an event in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said: “My first 100 days won’t end the Covid-19 virus. I can’t promise that. But we did not get in this mess quickly, we’re not going to get out of it quickly, it’s going to take some time. But I’m absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better.”
The president-elect vowed that he would give priority to the vaccination of health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities, per the recommendation of vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
