Multilateral Trade Affairs

The key objective of the Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs is to promote open markets that increase opportunities for U.S. trade and investment, as well as economic policy reforms that provide a basis for further global growth. Expanding U.S. exports helps to create high paying jobs and income. Fast-growing markets have a large appetite for imports in high technology and capital goods, where we are most competitive. To this end, the Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs formulates and implements Department of State policy on multilateral issues such as labor, environmental, and intellectual property standards, trade disputes, sectoral trade issues, and customs.

The Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs represents the Department of State on delegations to negotiations in multilateral organizations including the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as negotiations on numerous regional and bilateral free trade agreements.

Additionally, the Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs represents the Department in trade related dealings with other U.S. Government agencies such as the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the Department of the Treasury.

The Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs is divided into two divisions: Multilateral and Sectoral Trade and Intellectual Property and Competition.

The Multilateral and Sectoral Trade division formulates and implements Department of State policy on multilateral trade issues, including trade remedies, antidumping, government procurement, standards, customs, trade and labor, trade and the environment, trade in services, and trade in industrial and consumer goods.

The Intellectual Property and Competition division is responsible for promoting the protection of intellectual property rights abroad, and also represents the Department in all matters involving competition policy and antitrust law that have a foreign affairs component.

Links:
International IPR Training Database Website
Annual Report on Protection of Intellectual Property
Annual Report on the Trade Agreements Program and Trade Policy Agenda
The Doha Development Agenda (WTO site)
U.S. Proposal for Elimination of Industrial and Consumer Tariffs
The Cancun Ministerial in September 2003
--World Trade Organization site
--Official U.S. Government site
U.S. WTO Services Offer
Fact Sheet on U.S. WTO Services Offer
USAID Trade Capacity Building Database