Mary Estelle Ryckman is responsible for coordinating U.S. trade capacity building activities, which help developing countries participate in the global trading system and benefit from the opportunities created by trade.  Incorporating trade capacity building into trade negotiations like in the CAFTA-DR or the Aid for Trade discussions at the WTO is a priority for USTR.  Ms. Ryckman works closely with other federal agencies, international organizations, the private sector and non-governmental organizations in order to development the broadest possible response to the needs of our trading partners.  In addition, Ms. Ryckman is responsible for the U.S. Generalized System of Preferences Program which provides duty free access for certain products from developing and least developed countries.

Prior to her current assignment, Ms. Ryckman was the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Canada and was responsible for trade and investment issues with that country.  She has over 15 years of negotiating experience covering the full range of trade issues, from the Uruguay Round to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to investment issues, including bilateral investment treaties and the Multilateral Agreement on Investment negotiations in the OECD.