Exclusive-Trump shifts FTC pick to White House role advising on tech and competition

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) – The White House is withdrawing its nomination of Ryan Baasch for a Federal Trade Commission seat and instead naming him deputy director of the National Economic Council, elevating his role in shaping tech, telecom and competition policy, a White House official told Reuters.

Baasch will serve as deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and replace Robin Colwell at the NEC, which advises on economic policy. The move comes as Trump seeks greater influence over agencies and tech regulation following his firing of two Democratic FTC commissioners in March.    In December U.S. chipmaker Intel made Colwell its head of government affairs, shortly after the U.S. government took a 10% stake in the company. Two other NEC deputies, Cale Clingenpeel and Paige Willey, will remain in their roles.

Baasch would have filled the FTC seat vacated by Melissa Holyoak, a Republican who Trump has nominated as the U.S. Attorney for Utah, which would have given the commission three Republican members.

The FTC is structured so that no more than three of the five commissioners come from the same party.

Trump fired the agency’s two Democratic commissioners in March, sparking a U.S. Supreme Court case that could tighten the president’s control over government agencies designed by Congress to be somewhat insulated from politics.

Baasch previously worked in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office and at law firm Latham & Watkins.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; additional reporting by Jody Godoy; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Howard Goller)