Requests for USTR Action Should Come With Suggested Available Options, USTR Lawyer Says

Requests for action from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should go beyond asking USTR to go and fix a problem via the World Trade Organization, USMCA or other dispute settlement system, said Daniel Stirk, senior associate general counsel at the agency. Speaking on a panel at the Georgetown International Trade Update, Stirk said that instead, trust that the office is already aware of the issue and is taking steps to solve it, and if you still decide to approach USTR, come with thoughtful solutions.

"We're not looking for you to do all the heavy lifting, and obviously, we're going to be making the decision," Stirk said. "But simply throwing something at our feet and saying, 'Fix it,' isn't tremendously helpful. So, if you've thought through what the potential strategy might be and you come prepared to have that conversation, it will be a better conversation."

Letters from Congress also can help but they're ultimately not very useful when they merely call on USTR to solve the problem or attempt to "micromanage" the issue from afar, he said. "We don't need folks triangulating, coming to us for a meeting, going across the street to the White House or the NSC because you know someone over there, then we start getting calls and then going to Capitol Hill to get letters saying, 'Hey, why aren't you doing anything over there?' Well, we are, we're working on it," he said, to laughter from the audience.

Stirk also discussed how multiple disputes are easily resolved with a quick phone call to the offending country's trade ministry. Oftentimes, the trade authorities are unaware of the violation that is occurring, and so open and clear lines of communication between the U.S. and these countries allows for a speedy resolution of such disputes. The greater issue comes from the politically charged disputes in which the source of dispute is viewed as politically critical for the regime of a foreign nation.