WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Trade Representative Susan C. Schwab today announced the appointment of veteran trade lawyer Warren H. Maruyama as the General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Maruyama will be replacing James Mendenhall, who has been with USTR since 2001 and has served the past two years as General Counsel. Prior to serving as General Counsel, Mendenhall was the Assistant USTR for Services, Investment, and Intellectual Property and Deputy General Counsel.
“James Mendenhall has provided exceptional service and legal guidance to USTR, and he will be missed,” said Ambassador Schwab. “Through his hard work, he led USTR’s efforts that resolved the 20-plus year softwood lumber dispute with Canada, and his efforts helped to further multiple U.S. trade objectives during his tenure. I wish him and his family the best in the future, and all of us at USTR thank him for his public service”
Maruyama, currently an international trade partner in the Washington office of Hogan and Hartson, has over 25 years of public and private sector experience in the field of international trade, which includes his service as Associate General Counsel at USTR in the 1980’s.
“Warren Maruyama is a USTR veteran with tremendous insight and experience,” said Ambassador Schwab. “As a USTR and White House alumnus and a distinguished attorney, he has a fine reputation as one who understands both the broad issues in global trade and the nuts and bolts of making and implementing policy. I look forward to the many contributions he will make at USTR.”
At Hogan and Hartson, where he has worked since 1993, Maruyama advised clients on a variety of international trade matters, including U.S. trade policy, legislation, World Trade Organization (WTO) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) issues, and bilateral, FTA, and WTO negotiations. He has represented American companies and farm groups on bilateral and multilateral market access issues around the world.
From 1989 to 1993, he served in the White House Office of Policy Development, helping implement President George H.W. Bush's international trade and investment initiatives, including the Uruguay Round, Super 301, Steel Trade Liberalization Program, NAFTA, the Enterprise for the Americas, and the 1991 renewal of the President’s fast-track authority.
Prior to his service at the White House, he worked as USTR Associate General Counsel, playing a key role in issues including subsidies and countervailing duty negotiations in the Uruguay Round, the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, and the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988.
Maruyama is a graduate of Carleton College and Cornell University Law School.
