Wilbur Ross in Trump Cabinet members actions and issues
On Corporations:
55 years of investment banking and private equity experience
Secretary Ross is the principal voice of business in the Trump Administration, ensuring that U.S. entrepreneurs and businesses have the tools they need to create jobs and economic opportunity. Secretary Ross is the former Chairman and Chief Strategy
Officer of WL Ross & Co. LLC and has over 55 years of investment banking and private equity experience. He has restructured over $400 billion of assets in the manufacturing, credit card, electric utility, homebuilding, insurance, mortgage origination,
oil and gas, and trucking industries. Secretary Ross has been chairman or lead director of more than 100 companies operating in more than 20 different countries.
Named by Bloomberg Markets as one of the 50 most influential people in global finance, Secretary Ross is the only person elected to both the Private Equity Hall of Fame and the Turnaround Management Hall of Fame.
Source: Federal official website for Trump Cabinet biographies
Dec 31, 2018
On Corporations:
Privatization adviser to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani
Secretary Ross previously served as privatization adviser to New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the board of the U.S.-Russia Investment Fund. President Kim Dae-jung awarded Secretary Ross a medal for helping
South Korea during its financial crisis and, in November 2014, the Emperor of Japan awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. As a philanthropist, Secretary Ross has served as Chairman of the Japan Society,
Trustee of the Brookings Institution and Chairman of its Economic Studies Council, International Counsel Member of the Mus‚e des Arts D‚coratifs in Paris, Trustee of the Blenheim Foundation, President of the American Friends of the Rene Magritte
Museum in Brussels and Director of the Palm Beach Civic Association. He also was an Advisory Board Member of Yale University School of Management.
Source: Federal official website for Trump Cabinet biographies
Dec 31, 2018
On Technology:
Space race to stimulate economic growth across industries
Speaking at the Aerospace Industry Association's board of governors meeting, Ross said the global space economy is now worth $400 billion annually, up from about $340 billion in 2016. Ross submitted legislation last month to create a "Bureau of Space
Commerce," which, if approved, would support efforts by private and public firms to expand space tourism, manufacturing, prospecting and other initiatives. "Today there is a new space race - but this time, it is being run in the private sector. .
Source: Fox News, "New space race," on 2018 Trump Cabinet
Nov 29, 2018
On Free Trade:
Supports USMCA trade agreement to replace NAFTA
The USMCA is a new trade pact among the United States, Mexico and Canada, intended as a stronger and modernized replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross: "This deal clearly vindicates @realDonaldTrump's trade policy. It is fundamental reform. Rest in peace #NAFTA."
Source: White House press release "USMCA" in Trump Cabinet statement
Oct 2, 2018
On Immigration:
Citizenship on census vital to enforce Voting Rights Act
The Trump administration insisted that its decision to alter the Census [by adding a question asking the respondent about their U.S. citizenship] was rooted in only the purest of motives--specifically, a heartfelt desire to protect the voting rights of
African-Americans. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross explained that his bureau only began considering the citizenship question after the Department of Justice indicated that it needed such information to fully enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Source: New York Magazine on 2018 Trump Cabinet
Sep 18, 2018
On Homeland Security:
Invoke national security to restrict imports on uranium
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross took a first step to expanding the trade war to uranium Wednesday, saying he would launch an investigation into whether quotas should be used to restrict imports in the name of national security.
But utilities with nuclear plants fear such actions would raise the cost of electricity and nuclear experts said the military already has stockpiles big enough to last for decades.
Source: WashingtonPost.com, "Limits on Uranium": 2018 Trump Cabinet
Jul 18, 2018
On Budget & Economy:
SEC investigating insider trading "short sale" of oil stock
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross bet against the stock of a shipping firm just days after The New York Times contacted him about the company's links to the Kremlin, Forbes reported.In October 2017, the Times emailed Ross questions about his investments
in Navigator Holdings, a mover of liquefied gases whose major clients included a Russian energy company. Three days later, Ross made the so-called short sale. Ross' short sale was worth between $100,000 and $250,000, the Times reported.
The Securities and Exchange Commission considers insider trading as any transaction on public markets that's based on nonpublic information that can influence prices once it's revealed. "I did not receive any nonpublic information due to my government
position, nor did I receive any nonpublic information from a government employee," Ross said in a statement. "Securities laws presume that information known to or provided by a news organization is by definition public information."
Source: Business Insider (e-zine) on 2018 Trump Cabinet
Jun 20, 2018
On Free Trade:
Auto imports are threatening U.S. auto industry
The national security probe under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 would investigate whether vehicle and parts imports were threatening the industry's health and ability to research and develop new, advanced technologies, the
Commerce Department said. "There is evidence suggesting that, for decades, imports from abroad have eroded our domestic auto industry," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement, promising a "thorough, fair and transparent investigation."
Source: Reuters, "Auto import probe," on 2018 Trump Cabinet
May 23, 2018
On Corporations:
Alleviate corporate tax rate; small break for lower earners
Ross was asked whether the administration favors a tax reduction on the rich, a subject on which President Trump and other White House officials have provided ambiguous signals in recent days. "Let's see what really comes out" of Congress,
Ross responded. Congressional Republican plans have including income tax reductions for the highest bracket and other provisions that would be likely to provide net tax cuts for high earners in most tax packages.
The Trump administration's priorities in tax reform are to lower the corporate tax rate and to provide a "little bit of redistribution" for low-income earners, Commerce secretary
Wilbur Ross said. "More important is the corporate, and then a little bit of redistribution so that the people in the lower brackets get the real benefit," Ross said in an interview on CNBC, using a term that Republicans generally avoid.
Source: Washington Examiner on 2017 Trump Cabinet
Jul 22, 2017
On Civil Rights:
LGBT protections omitted, then reinstated following scrutiny
Ross issued a new non-discrimination policy this week omitting explicit assurances LGBT workers won't face discrimination in his department, prompting an outcry that resulted in an updated version of the document making clear the prohibition on
anti-LGBT discrimination. The "Statement on Equal Employment Opportunity" initially found on the Commerce Department's website declares it won't tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.
Source: Washington Blade on 2017 Trump Cabinet
Jun 16, 2017
On Health Care:
Young, healthy people enrolling in Obamacare is illogical
But the Obama administration is clearly way behind in its goal of getting 7 million people to sign up. Various analyses put current enrollment in just the tens of thousands through Healthcare.gov, though the government is not releasing official numbers
yet. "There's one problem if they don't get enough people. The other problem is if they don't get the right people," Ross explained. "I don't see why any sensible young person who's healthy would sign up."
Source: CNBC's "Healthy Gen Y-ers" on Trump Cabinet
Oct 18, 2013
Page last updated: Dec 03, 2021