Who will Trump pick as regulators? Here are the contenders

New York — Donald Trump has begun the process of choosing a cabinet and selecting other high-ranking administration officials after his US presidential election victory.

Here are some of the contenders for several posts overseeing regulation and enforcement.

Linda McMahone is seen as a top contender for commerce secretary. She served as head of the Small Business Administration in the first Trump administration and is chair of the pro-Trump America First Action super political action committee. She serves on the board of social media platform Truth Social, and is a major Trump donor.

Robert Lighthizer. As a loyalist who served as Trump’s US trade representative for essentially the president-elect’s entire first term, Lighthizer will almost certainly be invited back. He is considered a contender for the top jobs at the treasury, the commerce department and the US Trade Representative’s office. Lighthizer is a firm believer in tariffs and was one of the leading figures in Trump’s trade war with China.

Vivek Ramaswamy. A Republican presidential candidate until he dropped out of the race in January, Ramaswamy is a potential choice for the top job at commerce.

The multimillionaire former biotech executive gained fame in right-wing circles thanks to his 2021 best-seller Woke, Inc., which decries decisions by some big companies to base business strategy around social justice and climate change concerns.

Nazak Nikakhtar was formerly an assistant secretary and acted as under-secretary for the Bureau of Industry and Security during the first Trump administration.

She is being considered for a senior post at the commerce department, which oversees export controls that have been used by Washington in the US-China tech war. She is a lawyer and now chairs the national security practice at Wiley Rein.

Gail Slater. A policy adviser to vice-president elect JD Vance, Slater is viewed by antitrust attorneys as a top candidate to lead the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Slater previously advised Trump on data privacy and telecommunications, and held roles at Fox Corp and Roku. Before that, Slater was at the FTC for 10 years, including as an adviser to then commissioner Julie Brill, who is now an executive at Microsoft.

Melissa Holyoak. One of the FTC’s two current commissioners, Holyoak is a possible pick for acting chair. She was Utah’s solicitor-general and previously led the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, a conservative nonprofit law firm focused on free speech and limited government.

Andrew Ferguson. The other Republican on the FTC, Ferguson is another potential candidate for top antitrust roles. He was previously chief counsel to Republican senator Mitch McConnell and clerked for US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Both Ferguson and Holyoak voted against some of the agency’s initiatives under chair Lina Khan, including a rule that would make it easier to cancel subscriptions and ban non-compete agreements.

Andrew Finch, a former deputy in the department of justice’s antitrust division under Trump who expressed scepticism towards “drastic calls for breaking up firms or turning tech platforms into regulated utilities,” could be a contender to lead the division. Finch is a partner at Paul Weiss where he has represented Spirit Airlines, Uber Technologies and Mastercard in merger reviews.

Barry Nigro. A former antitrust official at the department of justice and FTC and partner at Fried Frank, Nigro is another potential candidate. Nigro handled the department’s review of T-Mobile US’s $26bn takeover of Sprint in 2020 and pharmacy-chain CVS Health’s $69bn acquisition of health insurer Aetna.

Joshua Steinman. A protégé of former Trump national security adviser Gen Michael Flynn, Steinman played a key role in the first Trump administration’s aggressive stance on government hacking operations and is a contender for a senior cybersecurity position.

Brendan Carr. One of two Republican members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Carr is a likely pick for acting chair of the FCC and a potential permanent chair. He has been a supporter of Elon Musk’s efforts to win subsidies for broadband internet service and criticised NBC for letting vice-president Kamala Harris appear on Saturday Night Live just before the election.

Reuters