Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is the executive office of the President responsible for developing and coordinating U.S. international trade, commodity, and direct investment policy. The agency is led by the U.S. Trade Representative, a cabinet-level official with the rank of Ambassador, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

USTR is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with additional offices in Geneva (handling the WTO) and Brussels. Its responsibilities include:

• Negotiating trade agreements — bilateral, regional (USMCA, KORUS), and multilateral (WTO)
• Administering Section 301 investigations into unfair foreign trade practices, including the China 301 program covering hundreds of billions of dollars in imports
• Managing the GSP and other preferential trade programs
• Running the exclusion process for products subject to Section 301 tariffs
• Coordinating WTO disputes as the lead U.S. agency at the World Trade Organization
• Filing the annual National Trade Estimate and Special 301 reports on foreign trade barriers and IP protection

USTR works closely with CBP (which collects the tariffs USTR imposes), the Department of Commerce, and the U.S. International Trade Commission. When USTR issues new Section 301 actions, the underlying HTS implementation lands in Chapter 99 and is enforced by CBP at the port of entry.