Wilbur Ross Expected to Be Named Commerce Secretary by Donald Trump
November 23 2016 - 9:40PM
Dow Jones News
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to select Wilbur Ross
Jr. to head the Commerce Department, said two people familiar with
the deliberations, a decision that would put a billionaire investor
known for buying up failed companies in charge of the agency tasked
with cultivating economic growth.
Mr. Ross, 78 years old, is chairman and chief strategist of
private-equity firm W.L. Ross & Co., a company known for deals
that included combining bankrupt steel producers Bethlehem Steel,
Acme Steel, Weirton Steel and LTV Steel to form International Steel
Group in 2002.
His company's work in the steel industry raised Mr. Ross's
profile in the Rust Belt, a region of the country that was pivotal
to Mr. Trump's electoral victory on Nov. 8. For some, the New
Jersey native has been a savior for steelworkers, willing to risk
his money to save thousands of jobs. For others, he was a vulture
who cut jobs and pensions and forced pain on a once proud
industry.
Mr. Trump acknowledged he was considering Mr. Ross for commerce
when the two met on Nov. 20. "That's what we're looking for," Mr.
Trump told reporters.
Mr. Ross declined to comment about the potential job in the
Trump administration. A Trump transition spokesman said no decision
has been made.
In August, W.L. Ross & Co. agreed to pay a $2.3 million fine
to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that it
hadn't properly disclosed some fees charged to investors. The
company was bought by Invesco Ltd. in 2006.
He has told associates that accepting a job in the
administration would probably spell the end of his business career
because he would be forced to divest himself of his investment
holdings.
In the early 1990s, Mr. Ross represented bondholders unhappy
with Donald Trump's management of his struggling Taj Mahal casino
business, a role in which Mr. Ross later said he interacted with
Mr. Trump "quite aggressively in a very bad moment for him, and yet
came away from it with great respect" for him. The creditors were
angry about a possible missed payment and debated whether to seize
control of the casino. Mr. Ross argued that Mr. Trump's properties
were worth more with the man involved and helped negotiate a plan
to keep him in charge.
Mr. Ross was tapped by the Republican National Committee to
raise money for the presidential race nominee before Mr. Trump
secured the nomination. After Mr. Trump became the likely nominee
in June, he asked Mr. Ross to join his economic advisory team.
Mr. Ross worked on policies proposing overhauls of U.S. trade
and regulatory policy in the final months of the campaign with
Peter Navarro, an economist who has been extremely critical of U.S.
policy toward China.
"I favor world trade myself. A lot of our businesses engage in
international trade. But over the years I've also learned quite a
few of the trade deals that we've made have been just plain bad
deals," he said in an interview earlier this year. "There's nothing
inconsistent with being an advocate of trade and yet saying you
need to do deals that make sense."
Write to Michael C. Bender at Mike.Bender@wsj.com and Nick
Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 23, 2016 21:25 ET (02:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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