The Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs is a senior position within the
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...
responsible for advising the
Secretary of the Treasury
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
on international economic issues. During the Trump Administration the office was held by
Brent McIntosh following the appointment of
David Malpass
David Robert Malpass (born March 8, 1956) is an American economic analyst and former government official serving as President of the World Bank Group since 2019. Malpass previously served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affa ...
to lead the World Bank. As of June 2021, the office is vacant.
Overview
The Office of International Affairs (IA), led by the Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs, has oversight of the following:
*Office of International Economic Analysis
*
**Office of Asia
**Office of Europe and Eurasia
**Office of Western Hemisphere
**Office of Middle East and North Africa
**Office of International Monetary Policy
**Office of International Development Finance
***United States Executive Director of the
African Development Bank
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...
***United States Executive Director of the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
***United States Executive Director of the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
***United States Executive Director of the
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...
***United States Executive Director of the
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...
***United States Executive Director of the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...
*Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Investment Policy
**Office of Trade and Investment Policy
**Office of Investment, Energy, and Infrastructure
**Office of International Financial Markets
**Office of Technical Assistance
*Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security
**Office of Investment Security
***
Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS, commonly pronounced "Cifius" ) is an inter-agency committee of the United States government that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. compani ...
(CFIUS)
The Office of International Affairs also oversees the operations of the
Exchange Stabilization Fund The Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) is an emergency reserve fund of the United States Treasury Department, normally used for foreign exchange intervention. This arrangement (as opposed to having the central bank intervene directly) allows the US ...
and the
U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue
The U.S.–China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) () was a high-level dialogue for the United States and China to discuss a wide range of regional and global strategic and economic issues between both countries. The establishment of the S&ED ...
.
Former Under Secretaries
The office of Under Secretary for International Affairs was vacant for nearly a year, following the November 2013 departure of
Lael Brainard
Lael Brainard (born January 1, 1962) is an American economist serving as the 22nd Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve since May 23, 2022. Prior to her term as vice chair, Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors since 2 ...
, who had been appointed by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
in April 2010. On Wednesday, February 12, 2014, the
White House Press Office announced that U.S. President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
had nominated
D. Nathan Sheets, of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, to the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
for confirmation as her replacement. On September 18, 2014, Sheets was confirmed unanimously by the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
for the position. Notable former Under Secretaries include
Paul Volcker
Paul Adolph Volcker Jr. (September 5, 1927 – December 8, 2019) was an American economist who served as the 12th chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987. During his tenure as chairman, Volcker was widely credited with having ended the ...
,
David H. McCormick
David Harold McCormick (born August 17, 1965) is an American politician and businessman. McCormick served as the CEO of Bridgewater Associates, one of the world's largest hedge funds, from 2020 to 2022.
A member of the Republican Party (US), R ...
,
,
John B. Taylor
John Brian Taylor (born December 8, 1946) is the Mary and Robert Raymond Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and the George P. Shultz Senior Fellow in Economics at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
He taught at Columbia Univer ...
,
Timothy F. Geithner
Timothy Franz Geithner (; born August 18, 1961) is a former American central banker who served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013. He was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank o ...
,
David Mulford
David Campbell Mulford (born 27 June 1937) was the United States Ambassador to India from January 23, 2004 to February 2009, and served as Vice-Chairman International of Credit Suisse from 2009 to 2016. He is currently a distinguished visiting fel ...
, David Malpass, and
Lawrence H. Summers
Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist who served as the 71st United States secretary of the treasury from 1999 to 2001 and as director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2010. He also served as pres ...
.
Duties
The Under Secretary leads the development and implementation of policies in the areas of
international finance
International finance (also referred to as international monetary economics or international macroeconomics) is the branch of financial economics broadly concerned with monetary and macroeconomic interrelations between two or more countries. Inter ...
, trade in financial services, investment, economic development, international debt. It also leads the development of policies on U.S. participation in the
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
, the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, and the other multilateral development banks (including the
Inter-American Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...
, the
African Development Bank
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...
, the
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...
, and the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...
). The Under Secretary also coordinates financial market policy with the
G7 industrial nations.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Under Secretary Of The Treasury For International Affairs