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, Belgium.
Ronald Kirk is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Trade Representative from 2009 to 2013, as the 97th Secretary of State of Texas, and as the 56th Mayor of Dallas from 1995 to 2002. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Robert Walker Holleyman II served as the United States Deputy Trade Representative, with the rank of ambassador, in the Office of the United States Trade Representative in September, 2014 to January 2017. Previously he was the President & CEO of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), the trade consortium which represents the interests of major software houses globally.
Faryar Shirzad ; born 1965 in London formerly served on the staff of the National Security Council at the White House from March 2003 through August 2006, first as a special assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, and then as deputy assistant to the President and deputy national security advisor for International Economic Affairs. In those roles, Shirzad was responsible for advising the President, the National Security Advisor and the Director of the National Economic Council on all international economic policy matters, including trade, investment, finance, development, energy and environment. He also served as the President's personal representative to the G-8, and led the preparations for the President's participation in other international economic summits, such as the U.S.-E.U. Summit, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and the Summit of the Americas.
Merit E. Janow is a professor in the practice of international trade and dean at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs from 2013 to 2021.
Rufus Hawkins Yerxa is a retired American lawyer and former U.S. government and international official. He served as Deputy United States Trade Representative during the George H.W. Bush and Clinton Administrations, and served for 11 years as Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). From 2016 to 2021 he was President of the National Foreign Trade Council.
Michael Braverman Goodman Froman is an American lawyer who is the current president of the Council on Foreign Relations. Froman 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 International Economic Affairs, a position held jointly at the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. In that position he served as the United States sherpa to the G7, G8, and G20 summits of economic powers. On May 2, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated him to succeed Ambassador Ron Kirk as the U.S. Trade Representative. He was confirmed on June 19, 2013.
The Chief Agricultural Negotiator is an ambassador of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) responsible for conducting and overseeing international negotiations related to trade in agricultural products. The Chief Agricultural Negotiator is compensated at the rate payable for Level III of the Executive Schedule.
Victoria Angelica Espinel is the president and chief executive of the software industry trade group BSA.
Miriam Elizabeth Sapiro served as the Deputy Trade Representative under Ron Kirk and became the acting Trade Representative on May 23, 2013. A former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, Sapiro served as well in the State Department and on the National Security Council under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton.
Karan Krishna Bhatia is an American attorney and former senior official in the Bush administration. He currently leads public policy and government relations for Google. He served as the deputy U.S. Trade Representative from 2005 to 2007, credited with leading the negotiation of the United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement. Additional appointments include Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs where he served from 2003 to 2005 and deputy under secretary of commerce for industry and security from 2001 to 2003. He served a total of six years in the Bush Administration before returning to the private sector in 2008 to lead government affairs for General Electric.
Michael W. Punke 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, he became vice president for public policy at Amazon Web Services.
Robert Emmet Lighthizer is an American attorney and government official who was the United States Trade Representative in the Donald Trump administration from 2017 to 2021.
María Luisa Pagán is an American attorney who is serving as the U.S. deputy trade representative in the Geneva office. Pagan was formerly the Deputy General Counsel of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), giving legal advice about trade negotiations, agreements, and regulations.
Stephen P. Vaughn is an American lawyer and former general counsel to the United States Trade Representative. Before Robert Lighthizer's confirmation as USTR, Vaughn served as the acting Trade Representative.
Curtis Joseph "C.J." Mahoney is an American attorney who serves as a Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Cloud + AI at Microsoft. Previously a partner at Williams & Connolly, Mahoney served as the Deputy United States Trade Representative from 2018 to 2020.
Everett Eissenstat is a former U.S. government official who previously served as senior vice president of global public policy for General Motors. He is the former deputy director of the National Economic Council and Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, where he represented the President at the G7, G20, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summits. He also served on the National Security Council. Eissenstat succeeded Kenneth Juster, who was nominated by Donald Trump to serve as the United States Ambassador to India.
Steven Patrick Schrage is a former State Department, Congressional, and think tank official. He has appeared or provided comments on foreign affairs and politics for major media outlets including NBC Nightly News, Fox News, the BBC, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.
Jayme Ray White is an American public official who served as deputy United States trade representative (USTR).
Wendy Cutler is an American diplomat currently serving as Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute and managing director of its Washington D.C. office. She also serves on the board of advisors for Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service's Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.
