US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday named veteran steel industry trade lawyer Robert Lighthizer, a harsh critic of China's trade practices, to be his chief trade negotiator, responsible for better deals aimed at reducing US trade deficits.

Trump announced his selection in a statement from his transition team on Tuesday, saying Lighthizer would help "fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first".

Lighthizer was a deputy US trade representative during the Reagan administration, where he helped to stem the tide of imports from Japan in the 1980s with threats of quotas and punitive tariffs.