Lighthizer gets trade role nod

WASHINGTON: Reagan-era trade attorney Robert Lighthizer was confirmed on Thursday as President Donald Trump’s US trade representative. The Senate confirmed Mr Lighthizer by a vote of 82 to 14. The 69-year-old is returning to familiar territory, having served as deputy US trade representative in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan. Mr Lighthizer will now be thrust into tense trade talks, as Mr Trump seeks to renegotiate the longstanding North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico and mulls potential tariffs and other import programmes.