Donald Trump praised Robert Lighthizer, his pick for U.S. trade representative, in a statement. | AP Photo Trump picks Lighthizer to serve as U.S. trade representative

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. trade representative is a battle-scarred veteran of trade negotiations who shares many of the Manhattan billionaire’s views on trade — including the problems posed by China.

Robert Lighthizer, a prominent trade attorney and former deputy USTR under President Ronald Reagan, got the Trump transition team’s nod for the top trade spot Tuesday morning, leaving only two other Cabinet-level positions unannounced, including the secretaries of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs and the Council of Economic Advisers.

Lighthizer, who will have to resign as a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom, would bring an unorthodox negotiating style to the position, a trade lawyer familiar with his negotiating prowess told POLITICO, adding that his approach isn’t that of a “choir boy.”

“His personal style is that, in meetings, he uses filthy humor and vulgar language to throw people off their stride, which can be side-splittingly funny and very effective,” the trade lawyer said.

But Lighthizer’s views on trade, including his lament about the “remarkably passive” U.S. response to China’s “mercantilist” trade practices, puts his squarely in line with the president-elect.

Lighthizer told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in 2010 that allowing the rising Asian powerhouse into the WTO severely limited the ability of U.S. administrations to take unilateral action to punish Beijing for dumping steel and other unfair trade actions.

The WTO’s dispute settlement process “is simply not designed to deal with a country like China,” he wrote in 35 pages of testimony to the commission.

At USTR, Lighthizer was in charge of industry, agriculture, investment and trade policy. But sources said he spent most of his time traveling around the world negotiating “voluntary restraint agreements” with countries accused of dumping steel onto the U.S. market, including Japan, the European Union, Mexico and South Korea.

Those countries did restrict their exports, but it was to avoid getting slapped with steep tariffs.

“It was never especially voluntary,” a trade lawyer familiar with the negotiations said.

Ultimately, those agreements were deemed in violation of trading rules established under the WTO a decade later, but they are strikingly similar to the kind of deal-making Trump envisions as he seeks to fulfill his promise to get tough on China and other countries.

As a lawyer, Lighthizer still represents U.S. Steel Corp. and other domestic giants in their efforts to keep foreign steel imports at bay. His bona fides are bolstered by his previous role as a chief of staff on the Senate Finance Committee, where he developed an understanding of congressional dynamics and loyalty to Chairman Bob Dole, later serving as treasurer for the Kansas Republican’s presidential campaign in 1996.

Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch said Tuesday that he looks forward to “a vigorous discussion" of Lighthizer’s trade philosophy and priorities when he comes before the committee.

“Ensuring our past, present, and future trade agreements are the best possible deals for American workers and job creators is a shared goal supported by pro-trade lawmakers and the Trump Administration alike,” the Utah Republican said. “As the incoming administration undertakes this enormous responsibility, Bob will be a critical player in ensuring that America’s trade agenda reflects U.S. commercial interests, while helping set the standard for global trade.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who has said he shares some common ground with Trump on trade, also said Tuesday that he looked forward to hearing how Lighthizer would accomplish the president-elect's goals of rewriting U.S. trade policy and creating more manufacturing jobs, "including withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, renegotiating NAFTA, and resetting the U.S.-China trade relationship.”

Trump's announcement drew muted praise from vocal trade critic Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, who said in an emailed statement Tuesday that Lighthizer's views don't align with many in the Republican Party, including some members of Trump's proposed Cabinet, "who represent the very perspective on trade that Lighthizer has long critiqued."

"Lighthizer is very knowledgeable about both technical trade policy and the ways of Washington, but what sets him aside among high-level Republican trade experts is that for decades his views have been shaped by the pragmatic outcomes of trade agreements and policies rather than fealty to any particular ideology or theory,” Wallach said.

During his campaign, Trump had promised to appoint a business leader to negotiate trade deals — something Lighthizer is not — and has picked CEOs for other Cabinet posts, such as billionaire private equity investor Wilbur Ross for Commerce secretary and Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for secretary of State, both of whom had supported TPP in the past. But the real-estate mogul heaped praise upon Lighthizer in his announcement Tuesday morning.

“Ambassador Lighthizer is going to do an outstanding job representing the United States as we fight for good trade deals that put the American worker first,” Trump said in a statement. “He has extensive experience striking agreements that protect some of the most important sectors of our economy, and has repeatedly fought in the private sector to prevent bad deals from hurting Americans. He will do an amazing job helping turn around the failed trade policies which have robbed so many Americans of prosperity.”

Trump built much of his campaign on an economic message centered on restructuring the way the U.S. trades with the world. He railed against free trade agreements like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which he said hurt American workers and ultimately cost the U.S. jobs. He pledged to place a 35 percent tax on goods imported by any company that shifts jobs overseas.

The president-elect repeated the threat Tuesday morning, targeting General Motors for manufacturing cars in Mexico and importing them into the U.S. without penalty.

“General Motors is sending Mexican made model of Chevy Cruze to U.S. car dealers-tax free across border," Trump wrote on Twitter. "Make in U.S.A. or pay big border tax!”

Lighthizer was an early backer of Trump’s and is a proponent of his hard-line policies on trade. The statement emailed by Trump’s transition team said Lighthizer will work with Ross and Peter Navarro, who will head up the new National Trade Council, “to develop and implement policies that shrink our trade deficit, expand economic growth, strengthen our manufacturing base and help stop the exodus of jobs from our shores.” Lighthizer is also likely to work with Jason Greenblatt, who will be Trump’s special representative for international negotiations.

“It is a very high honor to represent our nation and to serve in President-elect Trump’s administration as the U.S. Trade Representative,” Lighthizer said in the transition team’s statement. “I am fully committed to President-elect Trump’s mission to level the playing field for American workers and forge better trade policies which will benefit all Americans.”

