Biden Pick for Deputy Treasury Secretary Breaks Racial Barrier

WASHINGTON — Speaking at a Washington think tank in the summer of 2016, Adewale Adeyemo, President Barack Obama’s international economics adviser, warned about the perils of protectionism, explained how a growing Chinese economy was good for the world and talked up the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal he helped negotiate that Democrats ultimately rejected.

Four years later, such talk might sound out of touch with a Democratic Party that has become even more hawkish on 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 tapped Mr. Adeyemo to be deputy Treasury secretary, solidifying his team with another stalwart staffer from the Obama administration who will bring center-left economic ideas, deep experience and diversity to Mr. Biden’s top ranks.

Like many of Mr. Biden’s hires so far, Mr. Adeyemo, who goes by Wally, brings a mainstream policy perspective with a background that breaks barriers. Mr. Adeyemo would be part of a history-making duo at Treasury: He would be the first Black deputy at the Treasury, serving with the first female secretary, Janet L. Yellen.

And like some of Mr. Biden’s picks, the selection of Mr. Adeyemo is coming under scrutiny from the left over his private sector work. In 2017, after the Trump administration took over, Mr. Adeyemo went to work for BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, as a senior adviser and interim chief of staff to Larry Fink, its chief executive. He left last year to become president of the Obama Foundation, where he managed day-to-day operations and carried out its strategic plan.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/01/us/politics/treasury-Adewale-Adeyemo.html