The Office of the United States Trade Representative is the governmental agency in charge of drafting and recommending trade policy and regulations for the United States, more specifically, the President of the United States. The US trade representative is also responsible negotiating trade policy regulations and adoption, both on the domestic and international level.
The US Representative is also responsible of providing for an annual report, which is known as the Special 301 Report. This report is mandated under the Trade Act of 1974, and contains information in regards of any trade barriers that are in place for certain kinds of products or even United States companies. Many of these barriers will usually revolve around the various domestic intellectual property laws, such as copyrights and trademarks, that may be in place in certain countries.
The US Trade Representative Office was formed in 1962, as part of the Trade Expansion Act. It is considered to be part of the Executive Office of the President and currently has more than 200 employees overall. The headquarters of the US Trade Representative are located in Washington, D.C.
However, the US Trade Representative also have offices abroad, one being Geneva, Switzerland and the other in Brussels, Belgium. The current US Trade Representative is Ron Kirk, and has two Deputy Ambassadors, Peter Allegeier and Demetrios Marantis.
