Trump picks critic to lead Ex-Im Bank he once opposed

The Ex-Im Bank, the federal government's export credit agency, has been targeted by groups like the Heritage Foundation and some free-market conservatives in the past - who argue it's a form of corporate welfare that unduly benefits major companies, such as Boeing and Caterpillar.

During the election campaign, Mr. Trump dismissed the obscure lending agency as "featherbedding" for politicians and huge companies that don't need it, enthusing opponents who had squeezed its lending powers and said it should die off.

It's a view he used to share with Trump - at least until this week.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal and at a press conference on Wednesday, President Trump declared that China is not a currency manipulator, entertained the possibility of re-appointing Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve, asserted that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is a relevant alliance and expressed a favorable view of the Export-Import Bank.

"And these are companies that can do very well without it. I think it's a lot of excess baggage", he added. "When other countries give it, we lose a tremendous amount of business". "So instinctively you would say it's a ridiculous thing but actually it's a very good thing and it actually makes money", Trump said. "And it actually makes money, it could make a lot of money". He was defeated in 2016 by former Clinton aide Josh Gottheimer.

He holds a bachelor of arts in political science from Montclair State University and a juris doctor from Rutgers Law School.

With a board shortage, the 82-year-old agency authorized only $5 billion in financing in fiscal 2016, the lowest level in almost 40 years, compared with $20 billion in 2014, the last year the bank was fully operational.

In 2016, due to a lack of quorum on the Board of Directors, the Export-Import Bank was not able to provide full support for American jobs and the US exports that create them.

He'll also nominate Spencer T. Bachus III of Alabama, another former House member, to serve as a member of the bank's board of directors. Congress also refused to change the quorum requirement. This financing supported 164,000 American jobs that year, according to the bank, and about 90 percent of the bank's deals helped small businesses.

The president said he would nominate people to fill the vacant seats on its board, placing pressure on senators to confirm his picks so the bank can begin clearing a backlog of 40 board-level transactions worth $30 billion.

In 2015 the bank authorized more than $2.6 billion in financing and insurance supporting American small businesses, about half the prior year's total.