Exclusive: Trump's G7 and trade adviser Kelly Ann Shaw to leave White
House - officials
Send a link to a friend
[October 23, 2019]
By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald
Trump's G7 and trade adviser, Kelly Ann Shaw, is leaving his
administration for a position in the private sector, White House
officials said on Tuesday, marking the departure of one of the most
senior women on the president's economic team.
Shaw succeeded Clete Willems as deputy assistant to the president for
international economic affairs and deputy director of the National
Economic Council earlier this year.
She served as the U.S. "sherpa" for the G7 and G20 and was part of the
team advising the president during trade talks between the United States
and China, which led Trump to announce the outlines of a "phase one"
pact with Beijing on Oct. 11.
Shaw will leave her post on Friday. An administration official said she
was going to the private sector, but did not specify where. Shaw
declined to comment on her next move.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Oct/23/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
"It just felt like the right time to go for me," Shaw told Reuters,
noting she had worked in the federal government for 10 years and only
intended to stay for three. "I am ready for my next and new adventure."
Her departure comes as the National Security Council, for which she also
worked, is being slimmed down. Trump's new national security adviser,
Robert O'Brien, plans to reduce the size of the NSC by about a third in
the coming months and limit its role in foreign policy. The
international economics portfolio will be managed by NEC Director Larry
Kudlow.
"Kelly Ann has had a distinguished legal and government career in trade
policy and has played a key role in implementing the administration’s
trade and economic agenda," Kudlow said in a statement. "She will be
missed.”
Asked who would replace Shaw, the administration official said the White
House did not have an announcement at this time.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/102319PIX/news_t35.jpg)
President Donald Trump attends a joint press conference with French
President Emmanuel Macron (not seen) at the end of the G7 summit in
Biarritz, France, August 26, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
The United States and China are trying to finalize the first phase
of a trade agreement for Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to
sign in November on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation summit in Chile.
"We are working to see if we'll get there by Chile," Shaw said.
"We'll let the negotiators do their work and see where we'll get to
in a couple of weeks."
With her departure, Shaw will not be part of the official
negotiating team that gets the two sides to a deal, if one is
achieved.
"There's always going to feel like there's work left to be done,"
she said. "I've got very able colleagues who will take the reins
from here."
The White House faces a slew of trade deadlines before the end of
the year.
Shaw negotiated on behalf of the United States with foreign
governments ahead of summits with world leaders. She was the only
woman sherpa in the G7 this year and one of two women sherpas in the
G20, she said.
Before her time in the White House, she worked as trade counsel for
the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. She
also worked as assistant general counsel in the Office of the U.S.
Trade Representative in Washington and Geneva.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Oct/01/images/ads/current/graue_sda_2016.png) |