Since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, Ambassador Tai prioritized meeting the American people where they are
WASHINGTON – The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today announced that United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and USTR officials have visited all 50 states since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration, a historic first for the agency.
Throughout her tenure as United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Tai has pledged to travel across the country and meet with workers, Tribal, State, and local officials, small business owners, farmers, fishers, ranchers, producers, and community-based industries, organizations, and advocates to ensure that trade policy is relevant to the lived experience, hopes, and aspiration of all Americans. As Ambassador Tai said in her testimony before the House Ways & Means Committee in 2022: “In order for our trade policies to be effective and lasting, we must make sure diverse perspectives are represented in the policymaking process, and that our policies reflect those viewpoints.”
“I believe that trade should work for all Americans,” said Ambassador Katherine Tai. “The Biden-Harris Administration’s inclusive, worker-centered trade agenda could not be achieved by staying at our desks in Washington, D.C. Not only have we expanded the table, but we have also pulled up a chair ourselves so we can listen to and learn from the people we serve in every part of our country. This is why our travel in the U.S. is central to putting the U.S. back in USTR.”
“Ensuring that the benefits of trade make it all the way to the farm gate has been a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris Administration’s approach to trade,” said Chief Agricultural Negotiator Doug McKalip. “Agricultural trade is a key pillar supporting our rural communities and it is a priority for us that producers of all sizes have the opportunity to engage with foreign markets. We have met producers where they are, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Winters, California to hear from them directly about how USTR can best support them and their communities, and we are utilizing that feedback in our work in D.C. and around the globe.”
From Alabama to Wyoming, USTR is connecting with communities throughout the country. Whether it is engaging with labor unions and Native American community-based organizations in the Northern Rockies, visiting the heart of steel country in Southwest Pennsylvania, meeting with workers and labor unions in Washington State, recognizing the connection between labor rights and civil rights, seeing entirely domestic textile supply chains in the Carolinas, Ambassador Tai and USTR officials have delivered on their promise to put the “U.S.” back in USTR.
In addition, assessing the impact of trade policy on the United States requires sustained, quantitative and qualitative analysis. In October 2021, Ambassador Tai asked the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) to study the distributional effects of goods and services trade and trade policy on U.S. workers by skill, wage and salary level, gender, race/ethnicity, age, and income level, especially as they affect underrepresented and underserved communities. Last year, Ambassador Tai requested that the USITC repeat the distributional effects investigation every three years for the next 15 years. This will help close data and research gaps and gathering the necessary information to assess the distributional effects of trade and trade policy on U.S. workers.
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