International Trade Administration,
U.S. Department of Commerce
Seward ("Skip") L. Jones, Jr.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Trade Agreements and Compliance
Mr. Jones is responsible for overall coordination of the ITA’s work in support of the WTO Doha Round negotiations and other multilateral trade and investment policy initiatives. He oversees the Commerce Department =s participation in the analytical work of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), serving as the Commerce representative to the OECD Trade Committee. He manages ITA’s efforts to monitor and address shortcomings in foreign government compliance with obligations in trade and investment agreements entered into with the United States. He also oversees an office working to empower U.S. business, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to secure and enforce their intellectual property rights at home and abroad. Mr. Jones also manages efforts to increase the effectiveness of ITA’s Market Access and Compliance unit in dealing with international standards issues.
Mr. Jones overseas staff of 47 economists, trade and compliance specialists and operations personnel, whose main program areas include:
Office of Intellectual Property Rights – Significant initiatives under the STOP! Trade in Fakes Program include developing and disseminating information to help SMEs evaluate, protect and enforce their IPR, working with the private sector to showcase strategies for protecting supply chains from counterfeiters and pirates and protecting IPR at trade fairs and working with our trading partners in a variety of bilateral and multilateral venues to promote IPR and educate businesses and consumers.
Office of Multilateral Affairs - Conducts analysis, policy development and outreach activities and directly supports the WTO Doha Round negotiations and ongoing WTO work program. Develops positions to help guide OECD trade and investment work, as well as work in other multilateral organizations and in FTAs and Bilateral Investment Treaty negotiations on investment, competition, bribery and corruption, environment and labor issues. Works to provide ITA’s country desk officers with analysis and tools to address international standards issues and coordinates ITA’s work on food safety standards in the ISO and Codex Alimentarius.
Trade Compliance Center – Develops and maintains a complete central data bank for monitoring and reporting on compliance with trade agreements. Works proactively with government experts, industry and congressional staff to identify compliance and market access issues. Working then with other ITA offices and other agencies, the Trade Compliance Center engages in analysis of these compliance and market access problems and takes action to resolve them.
Previous leadership positions within the Department of Commerce and USTR include:
- Director, Office of Multilateral Affairs, ITA/Commerce
- Trade & Environment Coordinator, ITA/Commerce
- Market Access Negotiator, USTR/Geneva, during the Uruguay Round negotiations
- Acting Director, GATT Affairs Division , ITA/Commerce, during the Uruguay Round