Kelly Milton serves as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (AUSTR) and Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) in Geneva, where she represents the United States as Deputy Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this capacity, Ms. Milton is responsible for managing USTR’s Geneva office and for coordinating U.S. engagement across the WTO’s Committee structures and negotiating bodies. Ms. Milton assumed her current position as AUSTR/DCM in Geneva in September 2026.
Previously, Ms. Milton served as the AUSTR for Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) from 2020-2026, where she oversaw all trade and environment issues for USTR, including those related to reciprocal trade negotiations, and FTA monitoring and enforcement; the WTO on trade and environment issues; and trade-related activities under several international organizations and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Prior to serving as the AUSTR for ENR, Ms. Milton served as Attaché in the U.S. Mission to the WTO in Geneva and the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (DAUSTR) for WTO and Multilateral Affairs (WAMA). As the WAMA DAUSTR, Ms. Milton led negotiations to address standards and regulation barriers in the European Union that impede market access for U.S. producers of numerous industrial and agricultural goods. Early in her tenure at USTR, Ms. Milton was the Director for International Environmental and Conservation Policy in the ENR office, where she was the lead environment negotiator for U.S. FTA environment chapters and the lead negotiator on fisheries subsidies disciplines in the WTO.
Prior to joining USTR in 2010, Ms. Milton was a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, where she worked on implementation of commitments under several MEAs, as well as addressing conservation and sustainability issues through environmental diplomacy.
Ms. Milton holds a Master of Arts degree in Global Environmental Policy from American University in Washington, DC, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from University of California San Diego in La Jolla, CA.
