Office of the United States Trade Representative USTR

The Trade Expansion Act of 1962 created a Special Representative for Trade Negotiations, partly because Congress wanted trade talks led by someone closer to the President and less tied to the State Department's diplomatic priorities. A 1979 reorganization renamed it the Office of the United States Trade Representative and made it the lead agency for trade policy. The Trade Representative holds the rank of ambassador, is confirmed by the Senate, and usually has cabinet-level status.

USTR negotiates trade agreements, from the World Trade Organization rounds to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, represents the country in trade disputes, and administers Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which lets the President respond to unfair foreign trade practices with tariffs and other measures. It also chairs the interagency committees that coordinate trade policy among Commerce, Treasury, State, Agriculture, and Labor. With a staff of only a few hundred, it is one of the smallest cabinet-level agencies.

Its role has grown as trade policy has become more central and more contested. Section 301 actions against China starting in 2018 and the broad tariff program begun in 2025 made USTR a focal point of debates over whether tariffs protect American industry and workers or raise costs for consumers and invite retaliation. Congress shapes its work through trade promotion authority, which, when in force, gives negotiated agreements an up-or-down vote without amendments.