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Trump names Biden financial policy critic, China hardliner to key positions

Published: 23 Dec. 2024, 17:25

LIM JEONG-WON
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Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development Elbridge Colby speaks during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, in his office in Washington on April 23. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Cobly as the new undersecretary of defense policy on Dec. 22. [JOSEPH LEE]

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday tapped former Treasury official Stephen Miran, a vocal critic of President Joe Biden’s policies, to lead the Council of Economic Advisers, the top position in the White House for economic policy.

Trump also announced a slew of selections for key Pentagon positions, including Elbridge Colby as undersecretary of defense policy. Colby has argued that South Korea should consider independently developing nuclear weapons to deter North Korea.

In a statement released on his social media accounts Sunday, Trump said Miran “will work with the rest of my Economic team to deliver a Great Economic Boom that lifts up all Americans.”

“I look forward to working to help implement the president’s policy agenda to create a booming, noninflationary economy that brings prosperity to all America,” Miran said in response to the appointment through his social media.

Miran received his bachelor’s degree in economics, philosophy and mathematics from Boston University and a doctorate in economics from Harvard University. He was a senior economic policy adviser at the U.S. Treasury Department from 2020 to the following year during Trump’s first term as president.

Since then, Miran has worked as a chief strategist at Hudson Bay Capital, a global investment firm, and is also currently a researcher at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank.

While serving in the Treasury Department, Miran was critical of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s recommendation for a large-scale fiscal stimulus package just before the 2020 presidential election. He is expected to focus on realizing Trump’s “universal tariff” pledge in his new capacity if the Senate confirms him.

On Sunday, Trump also announced the appointment of high-ranking positions in the Pentagon, including the nomination of former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development Elbridge Colby as the new undersecretary of defense policy.

In a statement, Trump praised Colby as a “highly respected advocate for our America First foreign and defense policy,” adding that he will work with the next secretary of defense “to restore our military power, and achieve my policy of peace through strength.”

Colby, who drafted the 2018 U.S. National Defense Strategy (NDS) during Trump’s first term, which adopted an ultra-hardline policy toward China, was once considered a strong candidate for the President-elect’s second term White House National Security Advisor.

In an April interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, Colby argued that the top diplomatic and security focus of the next U.S. administration should be a “military balance” with China and that the role of the U.S. Forces Korea should be shifted from defense against North Korea to deterring China.

Colby also proposed that South Korea consider an independent nuclear arsenal, arguing that the provision of the integrated extended deterrence plan included in the Washington Declaration in April last year risked exposing several American cities to retaliatory nuclear strikes by Pyongyang and was an “incomplete” nuclear umbrella.

The undersecretary of defense policy position that Colby will assume will oversee defense cooperation with allies and is also the U.S. representative for the South Korea-U.S. Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group (EDSCG). Accordingly, observers expect discussions on readjusting USFK's role and redeploying U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea to accelerate.

Trump also nominated Michael Duffey as undersecretary of defense acquisition, Emil Michael as undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, and Keith Bass as assistant secretary for health affairs.

Steven Feinberg, co-founder and CEO of private equity fund Cerberus Capital Management, was tapped as deputy defense secretary, the second-highest-ranking Pentagon official. Feinberg is a financial industry tycoon with a net worth of $5 billion.

BY KIM HYOUNG-GU, LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]