Former White House trade chief Robert Lighthizer has been working as a senior adviser on global trade to Citigroup for much of the past year, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Lighthizer previously served in President Donald Trump’s first administration as U.S. trade representative from 2017-21, where he helped devise the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement. He joined Citigroup earlier this year, just before Trump announced his wide-ranging tariffs on imports from some of the country’s largest trading partners.

Lighthizer reportedly appeared at a Citi event in London last month where he told clients that he thinks the U.S. has been let down by the international trade system, adding that Trump believes he can reach a deal on tariffs that will help reduce trade imbalances but noted that such a deal won’t be easy to reach.

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