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Charlene Barshefsky
United States Trade Representative
October 19, 2000 1 p.m. ET
 Listen to the event
Charlene Barshefsky was sworn in as the 12th United States Trade
Representative (USTR) on March 17, 1997, after serving as deputy USTR
beginning in 1993 and as acting USTR since 1996. As USTR, she is a member of
the Cabinet, the president's principal trade policy adviser and the Clinton
Administration's chief trade negotiator. Summing up her record, President
Bill
Clinton calls Ambassador Barshefsky "a brilliant negotiator for our
country."
In November 1999, Ambassador Barshefsky capped her record of negotiating
success with an historic bilateral market access agreement with China, which
set the terms
for China's accession to the World Trade Organization. This is the most
comprehensive, detailed and specific trade agreement ever negotiated with
China, spanning
the range of American trade policy concerns from agriculture, to services,
industrial goods and fair trade rules. In addition to opening a vast array
of new
opportunities to Americans, it will bring sweeping change to China's
economic and trade policies.
Ambassador Barshefsky also has led in the negotiation of four landmark
global agreements at the heart of a dynamic, high-tech 21st-century economy.
The first of
these is the Information Technology Agreement, covering over $600 billion in
computers, semiconductors, computer equipment, telecommunications equipment
and
other high-tech products.
The second is the Agreement on Basic Telecommunications, opening up 95
percent of
the world telecommunications market to competition, promoting
pro-competitive regulatory principles in all participants and covering the
vast majority of nearly $1 trillion in telecommunications trade.
Third is the Financial Services Agreement, covering nearly $60 trillion in
banking, insurance and securities transactions each year, and opening up
opportunities both through
cross-border trade and through investment in foreign banking institutions,
brokerage and insurance sectors.
Most recently, Ambassador Barshefsky won a commitment from all WTO members
to the principle of "duty-free cyberspace," preventing imposition of tariffs
on electronic transmissions over the Internet.
More broadly, during her tenure, USTR has concluded nearly 300 separate
trade agreements in each part of the world, including nearly 100 with Asia.
The total includes 38 market-opening agreements with Japan, 17 with the
European Union, 20 with Canada, 13 with South Korea, 20 with the ASEAN
states and 17 with China, together with 22 Bilateral Investment Treaties
around the world. In addition, she has helped secure a broad improvement in
protection of intellectual property rights worldwide; opened the first major
discussions on the links between trade policy, environmental and labor
issues; and launched new regional trade initiatives in Africa, Asia, Europe,
Latin America and the Middle East.
Before joining the Clinton Administration in 1993, Ambassador Barshefsky was
a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Steptoe & Johnson. Ambassador
Barshefsky graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1972 and the
Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University in Washington, D.C., in
1975, earning numerous honors at both institutions.
Ambassador Barshefsky is married to Edward B. Cohen and resides in
Washington, D.C., with their daughters.
Related Web Sites
Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
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