The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the
United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting
American trade policy. Part of the
Executive Office of the President, it is headed by the U.S. Trade Representative, a
Cabinet-level position that serves as the
U.S. President's primary advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on trade matters. USTR has more than two hundred employees, with offices in
Geneva,
Switzerland, and
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
,
Belgium.
USTR was established as the Office of the Special Trade Representative (STR) by the
Trade Expansion Act of 1962, leads trade negotiations at bilateral and multilateral levels, and coordinates trade policy with other government agencies through the Trade Policy Committee (TPC), Trade Policy Committee Review Group (TPCRG), and Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC). Its areas of expertise include foreign direct investment, commodity agreements, trade-related intellectual property protection, and trade disputes before the World Trade Organisation. Based in Washington, D.C.,
Katherine Tai
Katherine Chi Tai (born March 18, 1974) is an American attorney serving as the 19th United States Trade Representative since March 18, 2021. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she is the first Asian-American to serve in the position. A member ...
is the current United States Trade Representative.
Organization
Leadership
The head of the office holds the title of United States Trade Representative (USTR), which is a
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filin ...
-level position, though not technically within the Cabinet, as is the case with office heads not of US departments but rather of offices contained within the
Executive Office of the President. To fill the post, the
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
nominates someone for the position, and the appointment is then approved or rejected by a simple majority of the
Senate. The United States trade representative and deputy United States trade representatives (DUSTR) carry the title of
Ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...
.
In the
Obama administration,
Michael Froman
Michael Braverman Goodman Froman (born August 20, 1962) is an American lawyer who served as the U.S. Trade Representative from 2013 to 2017. He was Assistant to the President of the United States and Deputy National Security Advisor for Internati ...
served as the US trade representative from 2013 to 2017, with
Michael Punke
Michael W. Punke (born December 7, 1964) is an American author, attorney, academic, and policy analyst. He is a former Deputy United States Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2017 ...
and
Robert Holleyman serving as deputy US trade representatives. Ambassador Punke also concurrently served as the U.S. ambassador to the
World Trade Organization (WTO).
Robert Lighthizer served during the
Trump Presidency.
Katherine Tai
Katherine Chi Tai (born March 18, 1974) is an American attorney serving as the 19th United States Trade Representative since March 18, 2021. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she is the first Asian-American to serve in the position. A member ...
, the current U.S. trade representative, was nominated by
Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate on March 17, 2021, by a vote of 98–0.
Office of WTO and Multilateral Affairs
The USTR participates in the
World Trade Organization, which is currently in the
Doha Development Round. This is partially managed by the USTR Office of WTO and Multilateral Affairs (WAMA). Relevant WTO agreements include the
(TRIPS) and the
Generalized System of Preferences.
History of the United States Trade Representative
Trade negotiations became more complicated in the twentieth century with the rise of multilateral organizations and technological advances allowing for more commerce. As a result, the organization of the U.S. government (with Congress in charge of regulating foreign commerce and the executive branch in charge of treaties) became less efficient and in 1962 Congress passed a bill calling for the president to appoint a Special Representative for Trade Negotiations who would make suggestions to the president on the matters of trade.
In the 1970s, Congress expanded this position, making it more accountable to Congress (the position has been called "a creature of congress"
[U.S. Trade Policy Functions: Who Does What? (2020). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/IF11016.pdf on 2021-01-14.]), and made it cabinet-level. Finally, in 1980 the position was renamed the United States Trade Representative.
The
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988 elevated the position's role to "coordinate trade policy, serve as the President's principal trade advisor and trade 'spokesperson', and lead U.S. international trade negotiations".
It also "required the USTR to report to both the President and Congress".
Issue areas
* Agriculture
* Economy and trade
* Enforcement
* Environment
* Government procurement
* Industry and manufacturing
* Intellectual property
* Labor
* Preference Programs
* Services and Investment
* Small Business
* Textiles and apparel
* Trade and development
* Trade organizations (The
World Trade Organization (WTO),
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. (APEC),
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, military ...
(ASEAN), and the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Reports
''National Trade Estimate''
The ''National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers'' (''National Trade Estimate'' or ''NTE'') is an annual series prepared by the USTR, which reports significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports. Since 1986, the ''NTE'' has provided, where feasible, quantitative estimates of the impact of these foreign practices on the value of U.S. exports. Information is also included on actions taken to eliminate barriers.
It is based on information provided by USTR, the
U.S. departments of commerce and
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
, and other agencies and sources.
The Special 301 Report
The Special 301 Report is prepared annually by the USTR under Section 182 as amended of the
Trade Act of 1974
The Trade Act of 1974 (, codified at ) was passed to help industry in the United States become more competitive or phase workers into other industries or occupations.
Fast track authority
The Trade Act of 1974 created fast track authority fo ...
. The act states that the USTR must on an annual basis, by April of each year:
identify those foreign countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights, or deny fair and equitable markets access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property protection, and those foreign countries identified under" this "paragraph that are determined by the Trade Representative to be priority foreign countries". The Act defines "priority foreign countries" as "those foreign countries that have the most onerous or egregious acts, policies, or practices that deny adequate and effective intellectual property rights, or deny fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property protection, whose acts, policies, or practices described in" this "paragraph have the greatest adverse impact (actual or potential) on the relevant United States products, and that are not entering into good faith negotiations, or making significant progress in bilateral or multilateral negotiations to provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights.
The
Uruguay Round Agreement Act
The Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA; ) is an Act of Congress in the United States that implemented in U.S. law the Marrakesh Agreement of 1994. The Marrakesh Agreement was part of the Uruguay Round of negotiations which transformed the General ...
furthermore states that countries may be identified under Special 301 "taking into account the history of intellectual property laws and practices of the foreign country, including any previous identifications" and "the history of efforts of the United States, and the response of the foreign country, to achieve adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights". It also states that compliance with the
does not include a country from being identified as denying "adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights".
Notorious markets
In 2006, along with the
International Intellectual Property Alliance, the USTR published a list of places where large-scale
copyright infringement takes place in the Special 301 Report. Since 2010, the notorious markets report has been published as a separate report.
List of United States trade representatives
See also
*
International Trade Administration
:
The International Trade Administration (ITA) is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that promotes United States exports of nonagricultural U.S. services and goods.
Duties
The ITA's stated goals are to
# Provide practical info ...
*
United States International Trade Commission
The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It is an independent, bipartisan entity that analyze ...
*
United States Commercial Service
The United States Commercial Service (CS) is the trade promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration. CS is a part of the U.S. Foreign Service and its commercial officers are diplomats. The CS global networ ...
References
External links
USTR websiteOffice of the United States Trade Representativein the
Federal Register
USTR Reports and Publications
Google Books
{{Authority control
Foreign trade of the United States
Anti-dumping authorities
Trade Representative
Foreign relations agencies of the United States
Trade Representative
United States trade law
United States trade policy
+
United States diplomacy