Liddell no longer wants top OECD job – report
Kiwi Chris Liddell has reportedly pulled out of the race for a top international post, despite a nomination from his boss, United States President Donald Trump.
Liddell’s nomination to head up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has caused much controversy in New Zealand.
The Government has refused to comment on whether it would back him, while National and ACT initially said the Government should, before pulling back after the storming of the US Capitol in early January.
The Green Party has consistently opposed his nomination.
According to a tweet from Bloomberg White House reporter Jennifer Jacobs, Liddell himself has pulled out of the race.
The OECD is a forum of 37 mostly rich and large countries that works to set multilateral guidance on matters including trade and taxes.
Stuff has asked Liddell for comment.
Liddell is a New Zealand-born dual US-NZ citizen and is currently Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy co-ordination.
National and ACT both said New Zealand should back his nomination after the Green Party’s Golriz Ghahraman said
his work for Trump disqualified him.
‘‘New Zealand just overwhelmingly voted for governance by values that would be eroded if a guy like that was the head of a governance body like the OECD,’’ Ghahraman told Stuff in October.
National MP and foreign affairs spokesman Simon Bridges told Stuff New Zealand should back ‘‘a boy from Matamata’’.
‘‘From the little I know of him – having met him but not knowing him well – he will have his own views, not simply those of the current president,’’ Bridges said.
ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden also backed Liddell in October.
But the riots in Washington DC while US President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the general election was certified in the Senate changed the position of both parties.