Resource Center
WTO & Multilateral Affairs
USTR's WTO & Multilateral Affairs (WAMA) office has overall responsibility for trade negotiations and policy coordination regarding matters before the World Trade Organization (WTO), including the Doha Development Agenda negotiations.
Specific responsibilities include the operation of various WTO committees, including those established for subject areas such as subsidies, anti-dumping and other trade remedies, standards and technical barriers to trade, government procurement, customs/trade facilitation & security matters, WTO Trade Policy Reviews, and preferential trade arrangements.
WAMA staff is also often responsible for these issues where they are specifically addressed in individual FTAs. The office has the lead with regard to WTO accessions, and is also responsible for trade policy coordination and negotiations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
6/30/2009
Obama Administration Completes 2008 Annual Review of the Generalized System of Preferences
6/30/2009
Report on Bolivia and Ecuador with Regard to the Andean Trade Preference Act
6/25/2009
6/24/2009
United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk in Paris for the 2009 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting
6/24/2009
Secretary Gary Locke and USTR Ron Kirk Call on China To Revoke Mandatory Internet Filtering Software
5/13/2009
Memorandum of Understand Between U.S. and EU on Beef Dispute
5/1/2009
4/30/2009
Fourth Report to Congress on ATPA as Amended
4/30/2009
4/14/2009
6/25/2009
6/23/2009
TRANSCRIPT: Press Conference on WTO Case Against China Over Export Restraints on Raw Materials
6/23/2009
Ambassador Kirk Announces WTO Case Against China Over Export Restraints on Raw Materials
6/2/2009
Remarks by Ambassador Ron Kirk at the U.S.-China Business Council
5/22/2009
Remarks by Ambassador Ron Kirk at the U.S. Meat Export Federation
Efforts Against Protectionism
As President Obama and Ambassador Kirk continue to speak out on the importance of resisting protectionism during the global economic crisis, USTR, in coordination with other agencies, has been monitoring and responding to trade-related measures taken by other nations in response to the financial downturn.
This interagency monitoring effort helps directly inform the global monitoring effort at the WTO. As part of this global monitoring effort, the WTO issues reports on protectionism and convenes a meeting on the issue at least once a quarter.
The latest WTO report, issued on March 26, 2009, was discussed by WTO Members and Observers on April 14, 2009, during a meeting of the Trade Policy Review Board (TPRB). The next WTO report will be issued in mid-June 2009, with a TPRB meeting to follow later that month.
