President George W. Bush’s choice to be the next US trade representative said on Tuesday her biggest challenge was restoring support for free trade in the United States, and she promised to push for a successful conclusion to world trade talks.

“I am a problem-solver,” current Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said in remarks prepared for her Senate finance committee confirmation hearing. “And the most pressing problem we face in trade today has been the erosion of America’s traditional bipartisan support for open trade and the pro-trade agenda that has so benefited the United States.”

Bush nominated Schwab to replace current US Trade representative Rob Portman, who is moving to the White House to be budget director. His departure has prompted speculation that Washington had concluded a world trade deal was not possible this year.

Schwab, however, pledged “a seamless transition” as the United States pushed for a successful conclusion to four-year old world trade talks before White House negotiating power expires in the middle of 2007.

Schwab also said she saw signs of progress in the US trade relationship with China, which many lawmakers view as an unfair trader because of its currency and industrial policies.

“The Chinese are beginning to understand that we expect China to conduct itself as a mature partner that has benefited greatly from the rules-based trading system and should, therefore, reinforce that system by abiding by it,” she said.

Schwab, who has been in her current post for six months, is expected to be confirmed easily by the Senate. She takes over the job when the huge U.S. trade deficit has fueled fears of U.S. job losses to lower wage countries and led many in Congress to question the benefits of open trade.