Trump’s national security jobs will go to loyalists, China hawks: analyst

Top candidates to fill secretary of state, other cabinet posts have consistently taken hard lines on Beijing, Chinese companies

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Donald Trump speaks at an election night rally in West Palm Beach, Florida. He will take office as US president again on January 20. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:57am, 7 Nov 2024Updated: 8:43am, 7 Nov 2024

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With Donald Trump elected as the next US president, a top analyst has made some projections for the key national security figures – all China hawks – set to shape his administration’s approach to world affairs.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the New York-based Eurasia Group, said on Wednesday that US Senator Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee, has the “inside track” to become secretary of state.

Hagerty, who previously worked in private equity, was part of Trump’s presidential transition team in 2016 and served as his ambassador to Japan before making a Senate run in 2020. In April, he was one of 15 senators who voted against a national security package to send funding to Ukraine.

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hagerty has maintained a hardline approach on China, targeting everything from China’s cloud service providers and biotech companies to Chinese batteries being used at US military bases.

Bremmer said Richard Grenell, former acting director of the National Intelligence Council, also has a chance at the post. Grenell, also a former ambassador to Germany whom Trump once referred to as “my envoy”, was known for his confrontational diplomacy that tested Washington’s relationship with Berlin.