Biden Beck for Deputy Treasury Secretary breaks the racial barrier

Washington – speaking at Prof. Washington Research Center In the summer of 2016, Adewale Adeyemo, President Barack Obama’s international economic advisor, warned of the dangers of protectionism, explained how the growing Chinese economy was good for the world and spoke of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal he helped negotiate. The Democrats ultimately refused.

Four years on, such talk may seem far from outreach to the Democratic Party, which has grown tougher toward China and increasingly wary of sprawling international trade deals. But that was not a concern for President-elect Joseph R Biden Jr., who this week appointed Mr.Adiemo to be Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, cementing his team with another powerful Obama administration employee who will provide center-left economic ideas, deep experience and diversity to Mr. Biden’s senior ranks.

Like a lot of Mr. Biden set up yetMr Adeyemo, who goes to Wally, brings a public policy perspective with a barrier-breaking background. Mr. Adeyemo will be part of the Treasury’s history-making duo: He’ll be the first black deputy in the Treasury, to work with First secretary, Janet L. Yelin.

Like some of Biden’s choices, Mr. Adeymo’s choice is under scrutiny from the left over his work in the private sector. In 2017, after the Trump administration took office, Mr.Adeamo went to work for BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, as a senior advisor and interim chief of staff Larry Fink, its CEO. He left last year to become president of the Obama Foundation, managing day-to-day operations and implementing its strategic plan.

If confirmed, Mr. Adiemo will have risen to second place in the Treasury from humble beginnings. Mr. Adimo was born in Nigeria and immigrated with his parents to the United States as a child and settled in Southern California outside Los Angeles. His father was a teacher, and his mother was a nurse. Mr. Ademu, 39, and his younger brother and sister grew up sharing a room in a two-bedroom apartment.

Mr. Adeymo went to the University of California, Berkeley, where he was president of the Student Union, and then obtained a law degree from Yale University. His interest in pervasive politics has worked on the presidential campaigns of John Kerry, John Edwards, and Mr. Obama.

Mr. Adiemo joined the Treasury in 2009, where he served as Deputy Executive Secretary to Secretary Timothy Geithner. Just over a year later, he was sent to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to help set up and get the new agency up and running. There, he served as Elizabeth Warren’s chief of staff, now a senator from Massachusetts, who came up with the idea for a consumer office and picked him up by Obama. Supervising the establishment of the agency.

The ability to switch between the likes of Mr. Geithner and Mrs. Warren was an early sign of Mr. Adeyemo’s talent for the intertwining of the moderate and progressive wings of the Democratic Party’s policymaking machine. At the 2015 hearing on the appointment of Mr. Adimeo to the position of Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Development, Ms. Warren gave a major tribute.

“He remembers who grew up with him and tries every day to make this country better,” said Ms. Warren, who has become one of the most prominent progressives within the Democratic Party. A spokeswoman for Ms. Warren would support the candidacy of Mr. Adeymo for the position of Deputy Minister.

Mr. Ademu eventually became Deputy Chief of Staff at the Treasury Department, under the leadership of Jacob J. Law. In this role, he was immersed in many issues including sanctions and international trade. During negotiations on the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, Mr. Adiemo focused on brokering a deal on currency provisions in the foreign exchange separation of the agreement.

Mr Luo recalled Mr Adeyemo traveling the world from Asia to Latin America engaging in economic shuttle diplomacy to broker a deal that would create greater transparency and enforcement of foreign exchange policy in the deal.

“He laid out an approach that frankly stood the test of time, even though the TPP did not engage the United States,” Mr. Liu said in an interview. “It became a model for how currency issues were handled in subsequent trade agreements.”

In 2015, Mr. Obama appointed Mr. Adimo to the White House as his international economic advisor on the National Security Council. He represented the President at the G20 and G7 summits and directed the international economic policy agenda through government agencies.

Mr. Adimeo’s fluent and thoughtful approach will provide a stark contrast to the Trump administration’s bellicose tone in economic diplomacy. At a 2016 event sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Mr. Adeyimo described the importance of encouraging China to liberalize its markets by demonstrating that doing so is in its own economic interest – and in the interest of the United States.

“The growing Chinese economy is one in which American companies can sell goods and services,” he said. “The growing Chinese economy is something that will help boost global growth.”

This multilateral approach to engaging with China may be a complication for Mr. Adimeo at his hearing, as Republicans have become accustomed to Mr. Trump’s confrontational stance.

Mr. Adiemo’s work at BlackRock is likely to raise questions from some Democrats, with progressives already expressing their displeasure.

Robert Kotner, founder of The American Prospect, a progressive publication, This week warned That BlackRock could win if Mr Ademo gets the second job at the Treasury, saying he could work to block tighter regulatory oversight of the asset manager.

Matt Stoller, research director of the American Economic Liberties Project, a left-leaning group It targets the strength of the company, He noted that BlackRock has worked actively to plant bidding officials within the federal government.

“BlackRock needs to disassemble and organize,” said Mr. Stoller. “Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, knows it, so he’s storing the Democrats’ hack on ice so they can go to the Biden administration and make sure that doesn’t happen.”

A BlackRock spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

An aide to the Biden transition team said that Mr. Ademo, who was appointed to set up BlackRock’s in-house research center, had no commercial responsibility or oversight of his investments or policy decisions. The aide said the experience also deepened Mr. Adeyemo’s understanding of financial markets and the role companies like BlackRock play in creating wealth for the middle class.

David S. Cohen, who held the position of Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence during the Obama administration, Mr. Adeyemo’s familiarity with the internal work of the Treasury and his experience in domestic politics, international economics and national security will make him a strong partner of Ms. Yellen, an academic economist and former central banker.

“In some ways, it’s the perfect supplement for two Treasury nights,” Cohen said.