Ross to head commerce department, Chao picked for secretary of transportation

Washington — President-elect Donald Trump intends to nominate former U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to be Secretary of Transportation, his transition team said Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, a Republican source told Reuters that longtime investor and supplier executive Wilbur Ross would be named head of the U.S. Commerce Department. Rumors about the appointment first emerged last week. An announcement is expected Wednesday, NBC News reported. Ross declined comment.

Ross created auto interiors giant IAC Group in 2006 by buying interior trim operations from Lear Corp., the former Collins & Aikman Corp. and other firms. IAC is ranked by Plastics News as the second largest injection molder in North America.

Ross in 2014 founded W.L. Ross Holding Corp., which on June 9 completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Nexeo Solutions Inc. — a major North American distributor of plastic resins and specialty chemicals. Nexeo went public the next day on the Nasdaq Exchange. Ross now serves as chairman of Nexeo, which is based in The Woodlands, Texas.

Chao, 63, was the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position when she served as Labor Secretary from 2001 through 2009 under President George W. Bush. She previously was the Transportation Department's deputy secretary under President George H.W. Bush.

In a statement, Trump signaled the key role Chao will play as the administration carries out his campaign pledge to revitalize U.S. infrastructure with up to $1 trillion in funding, a goal that will require broad support from Congress. Trump called her record and experience “invaluable assets in our mission to rebuild our infrastructure in a fiscally responsible manner.”

Trump's transition website says the incoming administration wants to invest $550 billion in highway, airport and other infrastructure projects.

"The President-elect has outlined a clear vision to transform our country's infrastructure, accelerate economic growth and productivity, and create good paying jobs across the country,” Chao said in a statement. “I am honored to be nominated by the President-elect to serve my beloved country as Transportation Secretary.”

Ross, 78, is the former chairman of supplier IAC Group, which was formed in 2006 when Lear Corp.'s North American interiors unit and Collins & Aikman Corp.'s European business were merged under Ross' private equity firm, W.L. Ross and Co., and Franklin Mutual Advisers.

Ross, a staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, has helped shape the Trump campaign's views on trade policy, blaming the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive U.S. factory job losses.

Ross is best known for highly profitable corporate turnarounds in the steel and coal industries over the last 20 years.

Meanwhile, if confirmed by the Senate, Chao will confront significant changes in the transportation landscape brought about by new technologies such as vehicle automation, in addition to long-standing challenges such as auto safety recalls that have tested established approaches to regulating the auto industry.

“Secretary Chao is an experienced leader, and an excellent choice for this important position,” Ziad Ojakli, Ford Motor Co.'s group vice president of government and community relations, said in a statement. “Her knowledge and expertise will be an asset to the incoming Administration.”

Among Chao's tasks will be deciding how to advance or revamp the Obama administration's guidance for autonomous vehicle deployment issued in September.

Ross and Chao may join another Trump cabinet nominee with an automotive industry background: Betsy DeVos, a billionaire philanthropist who has already been picked as secretary of education.

DeVos is married to Dick DeVos, son of Amway co-founder Richard DeVos. Her automotive connection: her late father was Edgar Prince, founder of plastics auto parts supplier Prince Corp.

Johnson Controls Inc. bought Holland, Mich.-based Prince in 1996.

A full version of this story is available at AutoNews.com.