Office of the United States Trade Representative

Office of the United States Trade Representative
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Agency overview
Formed	1962
Preceding Agency	Office of the Special Trade Representative
Headquarters	Winder Building 600 17th St. NW Washington, D.C.
Employees	200
Agency executive	Demetrios Marantis, U.S. Trade Representative (acting); Michael Punke (Geneva), Deputy U.S. Trade Representative; Miriam Sapiro, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative
Parent Agency	Executive Office of the President of the United States
Website
	www.ustr.gov

Priority Watch List

Watch List

Section 306 Monitoring

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 United States Trade Representative post is currently vacant. On May 2, 2013, President Obama nominated Michael Froman to succeed Ambassador Ron Kirk as the U.S. Trade Representative.^[1]

On October 11, 2012, the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) hosted a reception in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Office of the United States Trade Representative. The event was held 50 years to the day that President John F. Kennedy signed the Executive Order creating the Office of the Special Trade Representative on October 11, 1962.

Staff [edit]

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.

Demetrios Marantis is the current acting Trade Representative, with 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 [edit]

Main article: 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".^[2]

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".^[3]

List of United States Trade Representatives [edit]

Trade Representative	From	To	Home State	Appointed by
Christian Herter	1962	1966	Massachusetts	John F. Kennedy
William M. Roth	1967	1969	California	Lyndon B. Johnson
Carl J. Gilbert	1969	1971	Massachusetts	Richard Nixon
William D. Eberle	1971	1975	Idaho	Richard Nixon
Frederick B. Dent	1975	1977	South Carolina	Gerald Ford
Robert S. Strauss	1977	1979	Texas	Jimmy Carter
Reubin Askew	1979	1981	Florida	Jimmy Carter
Bill Brock	1981	1985	Tennessee	Ronald Reagan
Clayton K. Yeutter	1985	1989	Nebraska	Ronald Reagan
Carla A. Hills	1989	1993	California	George H. W. Bush
Mickey Kantor	1993	1997	Tennessee	Bill Clinton
Charlene Barshefsky	1997	2001	District of Columbia	Bill Clinton
Robert Zoellick	2001	2005	Virginia	George W. Bush
Rob Portman	2005	2006	Ohio	George W. Bush
Susan Schwab	2006	2009	Maryland	George W. Bush
Ron Kirk	2009	2013	Texas	Barack Obama
Demetrios Marantis (acting)	2013	present		Barack Obama