Office of the United States Trade Representative

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is the United States government agency responsible for developing and recommending United States trade policy to the president of the United States, conducting trade negotiations at bilateral and multilateral levels, and coordinating trade policy within the government through the interagency Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) and Trade Policy Review Group (TPRG).

Established as the Office of the Special Trade Representative (STR) under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the USTR is part of the Executive Office of the President. With over 200 employees, the USTR has offices in Geneva, Switzerland, and Brussels, Belgium. The current United States Trade Representative is Ron Kirk.

Staff

The head of the office holds the title of United States Trade Representative (USTR), which is a Cabinet-level position (though not technically within the Cabinet). The United States Trade Representative and Deputy United States Trade Representatives (DUSTR) carry the title of Ambassador.

Ron Kirk is the current Trade Representative, with Demetrios Marantis, Michael Punke, and Miriam Sapiro serving as Deputy Trade Representatives. Ambassador Punke also concurrently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

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 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".^[1]

The Uruguay Round Agreement Act 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 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights does not preclude a country from being identified as denying "adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights".^[2]

List of United States Trade Representatives

See also

• Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
• Doha Development Round
• Generalized System of Preferences
• International Trade Administration
• United States International Trade Commission
• United States Commercial Service
• World Trade Organization

References

External links

• USTR website
• 2005 Special 301 Report (pdf)
• 2010 Special 301 Report (pdf)
• USTR Trade Data
• U.S. Chamber State Fact Sheets