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United Parcel Service Inc. is a prominent pro-trade voice in Washington, and now one of its former executives is being considered for the post of U.S. trade representative.
Jovita Carranza, who worked more than 30 years culminating in prominent positions for the Atlanta-based package delivery and logistics giant, recently met with President-elect Donald J. Trump to discuss the job, Politico reported.
Some believe that the act of considering Ms. Carranza, a Latin-American woman, is an outreach effort to the Hispanic community by the incoming Trump administration. So far, the Trump cabinet has been stacked with investors, generals and industrialists, and the president-elect has said he would point a heavy-hitting business leader as USTR to negotiate better trade deals.
Ms. Carranza would be a bit of a departure from that line, as she boasts both government and private sector experience. She oversaw UPS’s Worldport air hub in Louisville, Ky., as a vice president from 2002-05, after heading up the company’s Latin American and Caribbean operations in Miami for four years.
She then became deputy administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration during the presidency of George W. Bush. The Illinois native now runs the JCR Group consulting firm, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Mr. Trump has injected uncertainty into the global trade landscape with negative comments on NAFTA and Mexico during the campaign. He has ignited fears of a trade war, saying he would slap 45 percent tariffs on Chinese-made goods and 35 percent levies on Mexican imports.
He said trade policy will mostly be driven by his Commerce secretary pick, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross. However, a spokesman told Politico that there are no plans to merge USTR with the Commerce Department.
Ms. Carranza is reportedly competing against former Nucor Steel Chairman Dan DiMicco and Robert Lighthizer, former deputy USTR under Ronald Reagan, for the job.