Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, Japan, Korea, and APEC (Acting)
Deanne de Lima is the Acting Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Japan, Korea, and APEC. Ms. De Lima served as the Deputy Assistant United States Trade Representative for APEC and previously as the Director for APEC in the same office. In these roles, Ms. De Lima has served as the U.S. representative to the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment, and has been responsible for APEC Ministerial policy planning, APEC statement negotiations, and USTR coordination across various APEC trade-related workstreams, committees and sub-fora, including during the recent 2023 APEC U.S. host year.
Prior to joining USTR in 2022, Ms. De Lima worked on the APEC Senior Officials’ Team at the U.S. Department of State. In 2021, Ms. De Lima served as a Brookings legislative fellow in the U.S. Senate.
Ms. De Lima has also worked on bilateral trade issues with economies in North Africa in the State Department Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs (2012); economic development at the USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia in Bangkok, Thailand (2013); and consular issues at the U.S. Consulate in Quebec City, Canada (2007). Ms. De Lima began her career at Pyxera Global, a DC-based international development non-profit.
Ms. De Lima holds an MA in International Affairs from the George Washington University, a BA in International Studies and French from the University of Nebraska, and certificates from Fundação Getulio Vargas (São Paulo, Brazil) and Centre de Linguistique Apliquée (Besançon, France). Ms. De Lima is originally from Kansas, and currently lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and two children.
