By Jody Godoy
Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump nominated WeatherTech CEO David MacNeil to a seat on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, according to a post on the White House website on Tuesday.
MacNeil, a donor to Trump and other Republican candidates, founded WeatherTech, an Illinois company that manufactures car floor mats and related items in the U.S. MacNeil has said in media interviews that Trump's tariffs level the playing field for U.S. businesses.
"I look forward to working with
this outstanding businessman and great patriot," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a post on social media site X.
In May, Trump nominated MacNeil as the U.S. ambassador at large for industrial and manufacturing competitiveness. The nomination expired in January without Senate action.
Trump had previously nominated former Texas attorney Ryan Baasch to an open slot as an FTC commissioner. But Trump opted instead to give Baasch a role on the National Economic Council, a White House official told Reuters last week.
The FTC is structured so that no more than three of the five commissioners come from the same party. Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador are Republicans.
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.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
