WeatherTech founder may be the most recent US shopper safety official

President Donald Trump made an unconventional decide for his nomination to the Federal Commerce Fee: WeatherTech founder and CEO David MacNeil.

MacNeil based the corporate, which makes weather-resistant automobile flooring mats, in 1989, based on its web site, and he owns one hundred pc of the corporate. WeatherTech has made it a mission to maintain its manufacturing and workforce within the US. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson congratulated MacNeil on X and known as him an “excellent businessman and nice patriot,” sharing a clip from a information phase the place MacNeil shared his dedication to manufacturing within the US. If confirmed, MacNeil change into the third member of the panel, taking the seat previously held by Melissa Holyoak, who’s now a US Lawyer in Utah.

MacNeil’s background is considerably uncommon for an FTC commissioner. Many come from authorized and educational, or have expertise engaged on Capitol Hill. MacNeil is a reported billionaire who just lately purchased a $75 million mansion in a city close to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago. He’s a Republican donor who has supported Trump, although notably in 2018 threatened to withhold donations from candidates who refused to help the Deferred Motion for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Nonetheless, his expertise might match with a number of the FTC’s present enforcement and regulatory targets, equivalent to implementing the Made within the USA Labeling Rule, to forestall misleading advertising and marketing. MacNeil will have to be confirmed by the Senate, the place Democrats will possible take challenge with Trump’s failure to appoint Democrats to the typically-five member panel after firing two of them in opposition to Supreme Courtroom precedent.