President-elect Donald Trump is appointing a strong proponent of cryptocurrency to run the Securities and Exchange Commission, a major victory for an industry that made serious inroads with Trump during his presidential campaign.
Trump announced Wednesday that Wall Street veteran and crypto champion Paul Atkins will oversee the agency tasked with regulating financial markets.
“Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations. He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Atkins is CEO of consulting firm Patomak Global Partners and was previously an SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush. Atkins will be replacing outgoing SEC chairman Gary Gensler, who the crypto sector considers a villain because of his attempts to impose greater regulations on digital securities.
The nomination of Atkins is consistent with the deregulatory crypto agenda Trump campaigned on. Trump’s sons, Don Jr., Eric, and Barron, have gotten involved in the crypto industry and pushed their father to take a softer approach to digital securities.
Atkins was one of several cabinet nominations Trump announced Wednesday for a variety of legal and policy roles. Trump is naming recently imprisoned former aide Peter Navarro to a senior advisory role on trade and manufacturing policy.
“I am pleased to announce that Peter Navarro, a man who was treated horribly by the Deep State, or whatever else you would like to call it, will serve as my Senior Counselor for Trade and Manufacturing,” Trump announced on Truth Social.
Trump credited Navarro for helping his previous administration renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and implement his slate of tariffs.
As senior counselor, Trump said Navarro is going to help “successfully advance and communicate the Trump Manufacturing, Tariff, and Trade Agendas,” a major component of the economic agenda Trump campaigned on.
In the first Trump administration, Navarro was an advocate for protectionist trade policies as director of the office of trade and manufacturing policy, an office Trump established through executive order. Navarro is a Harvard educated economist whose views on trade have been considered outside of the academic mainstream.
Navarro spent four months in prison earlier this year on contempt of congress charges for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House select committee on the January 6th Capitol riot. He spoke about the case against him at the Republican National Convention in July, which turned him into a martyr among the MAGA faithful. Navarro has promoted false theories about purported voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and pushed for Republican lawmakers to contest the election results.
Trump has already threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on goods coming in from Canada and Mexico unless America’s neighbors do more to help stem the tide of illegal immigration. He also floated a 10 percent increase in China tariffs to punish China for failing to prevent the flow of fentanyl into Mexico and across the southern border.
Not long after those threats, Trump had friendly conversations with Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who visited the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago club. Trump said last week that Sheinbaum agreed to shut down the flow of illegal migrants across the border and take further action to fight drug trafficking.