On April 3, newly sworn-in U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced his new senior staff members. Before taking a closer look at the credentials and backgrounds of the key men and women who will be helping formulate and implement the Obama administration’s international trade policies — including some telling details that the USTR didn’t include in his official press release — first briefly consider the overarching political context.

Talk about the permanent campaign. Kirk’s top team is heavy on political fundraising experience and campaign skills — so heavy in political talent that it looks like a future campaign-staff-in-waiting. Kirk, a former mayor of Dallas, ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002. And whether or not Kirk uses his new job as President Obama’s top trade negotiator as a personal political springboard, he and his team would seem to be positioned to advance an Obama reelection campaign in 2012. Last year, John McCain easily beat Obama in Texas, 56%-44%. Next time around, Texas Democrats like Kirk could hope to at least force the Republican opposition to divert money from other key battleground states to Texas — a red state rich in Electoral College votes that, the Democrats would hope, the Republicans could not afford to take for granted. And of course, the USTR can pick trade fights that will also play well in other politically important states (please forgive a crusty old reporter’s cynicism that would suggest such an agenda).

If Kirk is looking for a model on how a U.S. trade representative can use the office for maximum political advantage for a sitting president, Mickey Kantor showed how it can be done. Kantor played a lead role in the Clinton-Gore 1992 presidential campaign, and was then tapped by President Bill Clinton as his first U.S. trade negotiator. The politically astute USTR Kantor skillfully turned the resentments that the Detroit auto lobby had concerning its Japanese competition into a major political issue, threatening to slap 100% tariffs on Japanese autos. It was quite a fight — or at least, the appearance of quite a fight. By the time Kantor was done, Clinton was positioned to run for reelection in 1996 as a president who had the gumption to stand up to the “unfair” foreigners. It was a classic smoke-and-mirrors act, but one that worked politically. A grateful Clinton then promoted Kantor to be his next secretary of commerce.

While we wait for Kirk’s record to unfold, here’s the rundown of the new deputy U.S. trade cops who will play key roles in helping him set that record.

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Rep. Betty Sutton, a Democrat from economically depressed Northeast Ohio, has an idea that could help jump start the U.S. economy in an environmentally friendly manner. On March 17, the second-term congresswoman introduced legislation that would give consumers tax incentives ranging from $3,000 to $5,000 if they traded in their old gas guzzlers to buy new, more fuel-efficient cars. Sutton’s proposal is formally called the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act, but the lawmaker has a catchy acronym for it. “The CARS Act will achieve many goals: consumers will finally get a break to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles; we will all benefit from a reduction of CO2; and the auto industry will get a jump start to spur sales,” Sutton said when she rolled out her proposal. Others call the idea, Cash for Clunkers.

With U.S. auto sales currently at a quarter century low, the idea of cash-for-clunkers has some important political supporters. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi likes the idea. Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors are backing it. GM’s chairman and CEO, Rick Wagoner, has said that Sutton’s idea could have a “huge impact.” Wagoner points to Germany, which has a similar program that is credited with helping boost auto sales there by some 15% to 25% last month (depending upon whose calculations one wishes to accept). The United Autoworkers union is also strongly behind Sutton. Sutton’s idea also seems to be generally well-received in the White House. While the Obama administration has not specifically endorsed the bill, Steven Rattner, who heads the president’s auto task force, has expressed interested in “working with Congress on a piece of legislation that would help incentivize buyers,” Michigan Republican Rep. Candice Miller has told reporters.

But there is one small problem Well, perhaps not so small. The cash-for-clunkers proposal is restricted to cars that are assembled in North America. Foreign-made imports are specifically excluded. Considering the current international political environment, where perceptions of rising U.S. protectionism are increasing, the well-intended cash-for-clunkers bill could be heading into an international legal- and economic firestorm.

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When she served as U.S. trade representative from June, 2006 to January, 2009, the rap against Sue Schwab — a former foreign service officer, congressional aide, corporate consultant, and academic — was that she lacked the requisite political savvy to pry open markets for American exporters. So when President Barack Obama tapped Texas politician Ron Kirk for the job, the nomination was generally well-received. Kirk is a former mayor of Dallas whose ambition is to serve in the U.S. Senate. It’s reassuring that a man with real political smarts, a man who knows how to produce concrete results, will follow technocrat Schwab — or so the conventional wisdom has it.

But is it right?

Sue Schwab came into office with a deep appreciation of how the politics of international trade fit into the real world of diplomacy. As U.S. trade representative, technocrat Schwab had more successes than she is given credit for — notably including difficult issues involving China. As a former diplomat, Schwab understood the importance of using the right tone when addressing America’s trading partners. By contrast, neophyte Kirk seems inclined to adopt the old-style tone of Uncle Sam, the hectoring world’s trade policeman, always on the lookout to score political points against U.S. trading partners (China heads the list) whose word can’t be trusted. And on substance, Kirk has already blundered in the eyes of some foreign policy heavyweights by threatening to re-negotiate a pending trade deal with a major American ally: South Korea.

While Kirk may grow in his job — think of Robert Strauss, another politically minded Texan who performed admirably as U.S. trade representative in the 1970s — Obama’s new chief trade negotiator comes into office facing a very steep learning curve. At least, that was the thrust of concerns that were raised about Kirk last week at a well-attended conference of senior foreign-policy experts who convened at Washington’s famous Willard hotel to discuss U.S. national security strategies for Asia. One old Asia hand who was in the audience quipped that Kirk’s touting of his foreign policy credentials regarding Mexico reminds him of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s deep insights into neighboring Russia.

The March 11 conference rolled out a new 82-page study of various national security concerns that will face the incoming Obama administration across the Asia-Pacific region, and also a analysis of the U.S.-South Korea alliance that ran to 88 pages. The studies were written by seasoned Asia experts who are affiliated with an array of respected think tanks: the Center for Naval Analyses, the Institute for Defense Analyses, the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, Pacific Forum CSIS (the Honolulu-based affiliate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies), and the Center for a New American Security.

While Kirk’s performance two days earlier at his March 9 confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee went over well with the lawmakers, the foreign policy heavyweights who convened at the Willard weren’t as impressed. The main source driving the concerns that the new administration’s trade agenda could be heading into rough political waters: Kirk’s own words to explain how he intends to go about his new job.

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