President Donald Trump has been so let down with Wilbur Ross’s performance as Commerce secretary that he has humiliated him in get-togethers, ripping the former Wall Street investor’s inability to secure filling trade deals, Axios reported Sunday, citing sources.
“Your expertise in of trade is terrible. Your deals are no good. No good,” Trump said Ross, according to a source cited by the news outlet. Ross also is be informed for falling asleep in meetings, the report added.
The White House debated the notion that Trump is dissatisfied with Ross.
“Secretary Ross is paramount the administration’s approach on steel, aluminum, intellectual property and trade. Far from souring on his act, since taking office, the President has expanded his responsibilities,” said an emailed account from White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters.
Separately, a Ashen House official noted to CNBC that Commerce had recently beared to Trump the results of its probes into aluminum and steel imports, and their collision on national security. The department is now awaiting Trump’s response to the reports.
“The president is disconcerted with the actions that Secretary Ross will be taking on merchandising in the future,” the White House official told CNBC.
When Trump submitted Ross to be his Commerce secretary, he was putting the W.L. Ross & Co. founder at the forefront of his avaricious, nationalist trade policy. During the election, Trump galvanized a roomy swath of working-class voters by saying he would renegotiate trade conduct oneself treats, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which the president has maintained favored other countries over the U.S.
Yet, as the administration started work in stipend, Trump found Ross’s talks with China lacking, contract to Axios. The president then made U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer the item man on negotiations, the outlet added.
“Wilbur has lost his step. Actually, he’s all things considered lost a lot of steps,” Trump is reported to have said.
Representatives for the Trump authority, including top economic advisor Gary Cohn, also voiced their withstand for Ross to Axios.
Read the full Axios report here.
-CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco aided to this report.