Commerce Minister Chen Deming lost his seat during the Communist Party Congress, which ended last Wednesday, meaning he will have to leave his post during the National Peopleâs Congress in March.
Ron Kirk, the U.S. trade representative, is expected to leave at the end of President Barack Obamaâs first term, the report said.
The two leading candidates to become China’s commerce minister are Gao Hucheng, Chenâs deputy at the Commerce Ministry, and Tianjin Mayor Huang Xingguo.
Huang’s boss is Zhang Gaoli, party secretary in Tianjin, who became one of the seven members of the country’s ruling Politburo Standing Committee Thursday.
According to Bradsher’s report, Zhang is expected to become the executive vice premier of day-to-day economic policy at the National Peopleâs Congress in March.