Office of the United States Trade Representative

Office of the United States Trade Representative
Agency overview
Seal of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Flag of the U.S. Trade Representative
Formed	1962
Preceding agency	Office of the Special Trade Representative
Headquarters	Winder Building 600 17th St. NW Washington, D.C.
Employees	200
Agency executives	Robert Lighthizer, Trade Representative vacant, Deputy Trade Representative vacant, Deputy Trade Representative (Geneva)
Parent agency	Executive Office of the President of the United States
Website	www.ustr.gov

Priority Foreign Country

Priority Watch List

Watch List

Section 306 Monitoring

Out-of-Cycle Review/Status Pending

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 Obama administration's last U.S. Trade Representative was Michael Froman, who assumed the office on June 21, 2013. President Donald Trump nominated Robert Lighthizer, and he took the office on May 15, 2017, after being confirmed by the Senate.

Organization

Leadership

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, 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 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.

Michael Froman served as the US Trade Representative until 2017, with Michael Punke and Robert Holleyman serving as Deputy US Trade Representatives. Ambassador Punke also concurrently serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

On May 2, 2013, President Obama nominated Michael Froman to succeed Ambassador Ron Kirk as the U.S. Trade Representative.^[1] The Senate confirmed Froman on June 19, 2013, and he was sworn into office on June 21, 2013.^[2]^[3]

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 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Generalized System of Preferences.

Reports

National Trade Estimate

The National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (National Trade Estimate or NTE) is an annual series that surveys prepared by the USTR, which reports significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports. Since 1986, the NTE provides, 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.^[4] It is based on information provided by USTR, the U.S. Departments of Commerce and Agriculture, and other agencies and sources.^[4]

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.^[5]

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 include a country from being identified as denying "adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights".^[6]

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

Peter Allgeier, Acting February 23, 2005 May 16, 2005

Peter Allgeier, Acting January 21, 2009 March 17, 2009

Officeholder	Term start	Term end	President
Christian Herter	December 10, 1962	December 30, 1966	John F. Kennedy
Christian Herter	December 10, 1962	December 30, 1966	Lyndon Johnson
William Roth	March 24, 1967	January 20, 1969	Lyndon Johnson
Carl Gilbert	August 6, 1969	September 21, 1971	Richard Nixon
William Eberle	November 12, 1971	December 24, 1974	Richard Nixon
Frederick Dent	March 26, 1975	January 20, 1977	Gerald Ford
Robert Strauss	March 30, 1977	August 17, 1979	Jimmy Carter
Reubin Askew	October 1, 1979	December 31, 1980	Jimmy Carter
Bill Brock	January 23, 1981	April 29, 1985	Ronald Reagan
Clayton Yeutter	July 1, 1985	January 20, 1989	Ronald Reagan
Carla Hills	February 6, 1989	January 20, 1993	George H. W. Bush
Mickey Kantor	January 22, 1993	April 12, 1996	Bill Clinton
Charlene Barshefsky Acting: 1996–1997	April 12, 1996	January 20, 2001	Bill Clinton
Robert Zoellick	January 20, 2001	February 22, 2005	George W. Bush
Rob Portman	May 17, 2005	May 29, 2006
Susan Schwab	June 8, 2006	January 20, 2009
Ron Kirk	March 18, 2009	March 15, 2013	Barack Obama
Demetrios Marantis Acting	March 15, 2013	May 23, 2013
Miriam Sapiro Acting	May 23, 2013	June 21, 2013
Michael Froman	June 21, 2013	January 20, 2017
Maria Pagan Acting	January 20, 2017	March 1, 2017	Donald Trump
Stephen Vaughn Acting	March 2, 2017	May 15, 2017
Robert Lighthizer	May 15, 2017	Incumbent

References

↑ Obama taps Penny Pritzker, Mike Froman for top economic jobs. CBS News (2013-05-02). Retrieved on 2013-08-12.
↑ Senate confirms Michael Froman as trade chief – Politics standard used in IRS cases – Lawmakers urge changes to IRS accounting rule – POLITICO Morning Tax. Politico.Com (2013-06-27). Retrieved on 2013-08-12.
↑ Statement by United States Trade Representative Michael Froman |Office of the United States Trade Representative. Ustr.gov. Retrieved on 2013-08-12.
1 2 Office of the United States Trade Representative. "Reports and Publications". Retrieved 25 November 2013.
↑ Masterson, John T. (2004). International trademarks and copyright: enforcement and management. American Bar Association. ISBN 978-1-59031-359-6.
↑ Masterson, John T. (2004). International trademarks and copyright: enforcement and management. American Bar Association. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-1-59031-359-6.

External links

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United States Trade Representatives
Herter Roth Gilbert Eberle Dent Strauss Askew Brock Yeutter Hills Kantor Barshefsky Zoellick Portman Schwab Kirk Froman Lighthizer

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 136040951 LCCN: n80084079 GND: 4405034-3 BNF: cb124818216 (data) NDL: 00628140

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