USTR Zoellick Named as Deputy Secretary of State
President Bush today announced U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick as his pick to become the No. 2 official at the State Department under Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice. "Condoleezza Rice and Bob Zoellick will form one of the really strong, capable foreign policy teams our country has ever had," Bush said on the South Lawn of the White House just before he departed for a day trip to Michigan.
This appointment had been reported in today's edition of the Washington Post. The Post's article noted that the names being circulated as possible successors for the post of USTR include: Josette Shiner (currently deputy USTR), Gary Edelson (former deputy national security advisor), Representative Jim Kolbe (R-AZ), Grant Aldonas (currently undersecretary of commerce for international affairs) and Robert M. Kimmitt (currently a Time Warner executive and formerly U.S. ambassador to Germany).