President Obama congratulates Ambassador Kirk on his nomination to the office of U.S. Trade Representative (White House pool photo / A. Ryan)

U.S. Trade Representative Takes Office

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk was formally sworn into office on Friday, March 20 (Saturday, March 21 NZ time) in a ceremony presided over by Vice-President Joe Biden.  Ambassador Kirk's swearing in follows overwhelming approval from the Senate confirmation process. On March 18, the Senate voted 92-5 in favour of confirming Ambassador Kirk.

As United States Trade Representative (USTR), Ambassador Kirk is member of President Obama’s Cabinet and serves as the President’s principal trade advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on trade issues.  During the swearing in ceremony, Vice-President Biden described the role of the USTR "This administration is about improving lives everywhere, plain and simple.  And as the U.S. Trade Representative, that's pretty much his job description in a nutshell, improving lives everywhere."

Vice-President Biden went on to stress the importance of trade to the Obama administration, and explain that it supports rather than conflicts with other administration priorities "there's not a trade-off made between supporting free and fair trade and fighting for American workers.  Not only can we do both, we have to do both" he said.

He explained that trade agreements are not only good for the U.S., saying "no agreement is a good agreement unless both parties prosper -- and hopefully it is good for the rest of the world, as well".

Together with the March 23 announcement that President Obama has named three more nominees for senior positions within the Treasury Department, the assumption of office by Ambassador Kirk signals the importance the Obama administration places on filling senior trade positions as soon as possible.

"There's a rigorous process involved. We hope that we're working with Capitol Hill to ensure that, at the same time there's appropriate rigor and vetting, that there's not in any way any undue delay in ensuring that good people who want to serve their country can get into the jobs that they've been nominated for, " said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.
 

Related Links

• Swearing in remarks by Vice President Biden
• Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing
• Statement from the Office of the USTR