Key Points
- A top Commerce Department official who barred Chinese cars from the U.S. has been pushed out.
- Elizabeth “Liz” Cannon’s departure comes as the Trump administration is taking a softer stance on China.
- The Commerce Department has also dropped a plan to restrict Chinese drones.
- The administration plans to appoint a political appointee to replace Cannon.
The Trump administration has pushed out a top Commerce Department official whose office oversaw a rule that effectively banned Chinese cars from the U.S. market. Elizabeth “Liz” Cannon has resigned as the executive director of an office tasked with investigating threats to the U.S. supply chain from foreign adversaries.
Cannon’s departure comes as the administration is taking a softer stance on China in the wake of a fragile trade truce. The Commerce Department recently dropped a plan to restrict Chinese drones and has put on hold a rule that would have addressed concerns about truck imports from China.
The office that Cannon led was also responsible for the rule finalized under the Biden administration that barred Chinese passenger vehicles over concerns about data collection and manipulation. While that rule is still in place, Trump has recently said he would welcome a Chinese automaker that wants to build cars in the U.S.
Sources say that if Cannon had not resigned, she would have been reassigned, and that the administration plans to put a political appointee in her place.
This is the latest in a series of departures of high-level officials from the Commerce Department under the Trump administration. Experts are worried that the loss of this expertise will make it harder for the U.S. to navigate the complex world of trade and national security.
“It’s going to be hard to find somebody who can come in and replace the job Liz Cannon was doing,” said one national security expert. “Even if we are in a period of detente, it’s important to have the expertise to think through the risks and possible actions. If not, it’s going to come back to haunt us.”
