- Jamieson Greer, US Trade Representative, shapes Trump's tariff-driven trade strategy
- Greer leads efforts to raise tariffs and negotiate with China, Canada, Mexico, others
- Supreme Court reviews legality of tariffs imposed under emergency powers
The United States trade agenda is reportedly being shaped by a relatively low-profile but highly influential official. He has played a central role in executing the administration's aggressive tariff-driven strategy as Washington pushes to reset global trading relationships.
Jamieson Greer, the US Trade Representative, has emerged as a key figure in global trade policy, working closely with US President Donald Trump to roll out tariff measures aimed at restructuring international commerce.
Greer, 45, has played a central role in designing the legal and policy framework underpinning the administration's tariff-first trade strategy. The approach has targeted major trading partners, including China, Canada and Mexico, while also being used as leverage in disputes with countries such as Colombia, reported The New York Times.
Greer has overseen efforts to push tariff rates to levels not seen in decades, while simultaneously leading negotiations with dozens of countries. "What the president has done is amazing. He has restructured global trade," he said.
The tariff programme is now facing legal challenges at the Supreme Court of the United States, which is reviewing whether several measures imposed under emergency powers are lawful. A ruling against the administration could force a major rethink of current trade policy.
Diplomatic tensions are also rising. The Trump administration is preparing for further negotiations with Beijing, alongside talks involving European and North American partners. Officials say tariff threats have provided leverage, though frequent policy shifts have created uncertainty for global businesses.
Greer is widely seen in Washington as a stabilising presence within a volatile policy environment. He previously worked closely with former trade representative Robert E Lighthizer, who helped shape the administration's earlier trade strategy.
Greer has also worked closely with treasury secretary Scott Bessent ahead of planned high-level engagements involving Chinese President Xi Jinping. "If people want to egg China and the United States on to have some big trade fight, I don't think that's going to be good for the world," he said.
Greer is regarded as unusually calm under pressure. The reason? He has pointed to his time serving as a military lawyer in Iraq, where he at times had to halt cross-examinations and take cover from incoming mortar fire. "Listen, as long as nobody's bombing me, I'm in good shape," he said.
Greer's path to Washington was unconventional. Raised in a working-class family in California, he grew up in a mobile home, worked service jobs as a teenager and later studied at Brigham Young University. He also served as a Mormon missionary in Europe and became fluent in French. After law school and study in Paris, he served as a military lawyer in Kansas, Turkey and Iraq.
According to the New York Times, Greer said in an interview once that "tensions" was "not a word I would ever use," while conceding the national security tariffs had added "an extra layer of complexity."
