Bush Picks Zoellick for Trade Rep; Chao for Labor

President-elect Bush announced former State Department official Robert Zoellick as his choice for U.S. Trade Representative Thursday.

Bush also nominated former Deputy Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao to be secretary of labor. His first nominee, Linda Chavez, backed down earlier in the week.

The trade representative is the administration’s point person in trade negotiations with other countries and plays a key role in forging commerce agreements and settling trade and tariff disputes. In his statement, Zoellick said he looks forward working closely with Congress in an expanding global economy.

Previous reports had indicated that Bush would downgrade the position from its Cabinet-level rank, but he confirmed at the press conference that the trade representative would indeed remain part of his Cabinet.

Zoellick previously worked for Bush’s father, former President George Bush, and served as a representative to the G-7 Economic Summits in 1991 and 1992, the Reuters reported.

Chao was former head of the Federal Maritime Administration. She is married to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). At Thursday’s press conference, Chao said America’s working men and women are the nation’s “most precious resource.” Previously speculated to be Bush’s transportation secretary-designate, Chao immigrated to the United States from Taiwan at the age of 8.