Trump's trade czar Ross easily wins Senate confirmation
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross easily won confirmation as U.S. commerce secretary on Monday, clearing President Donald Trump's top trade official to start work on renegotiating trade relationships with China and Mexico.
The US Senate voted 72-27 to confirm the 79-year-old corporate turnaround expert's nomination, with strong support from Democrats, Reuters reports. Ross is set to become an influential voice in Trump's economic team after helping shape the president's opposition to multilateral free trade deals such as the now-scrapped Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Ross drew votes from 19 Democrats and one independent, partly because of an endorsement from the United Steelworkers union for his efforts in restructuring bankrupt steel companies in the early 2000s, which saved numerous plants and thousands of jobs.
Ross was criticized by some Democrats as another billionaire in a Trump Cabinet that says it is focused on the working class, and for being a "vulture" investor who has eliminated some jobs. Reuters reported last month that Ross's companies had shipped some 2,700 jobs overseas since 2004.