CSUSTL 2024 Roundtable Speaker Series Features USITC Chairman David Johanson In Washington DC April Event

CSUSTL conducted its second roundtable conversation with U.S. International Trade Commission Chairman David Johanson on April 18th in Washington DC, as part of the group’s annual Speaker Series.  Johanson met in an afternoon session with representatives from the U.S. manufacturing, service, and agriculture sectors to discuss current trade issues before the agency.  The roundtable was attended by CSUSTL Executive Committee members; general CSUSTL membership; and invited guests.  Much of the conversation focused on efforts by the US government to effectively enforce the trade remedy laws, including resource needs of USITC in conducting its statutory responsibilities.

In the enforcement of our trade laws, the USITC determines whether U.S. industries are injured by imports that are sold in the United States at less than fair value ("dumped") or that benefit from countervailable subsidies provided through foreign government programs ("subsidized"). The Department of Commerce determines whether imports are subsidized or dumped, and the USITC determines whether a domestic industry is materially injured or threatened with material injury by reason of such imports.  The USITC is a key agency in the enforcement of these important laws which help US communities protect their local economies from illegal trade practices by our trading partners, such as China.

David S. Johanson, a Republican from Texas, is the Chairman of the USITC. He became Chairman on June 17, 2022, by operation of law. He was nominated to the USITC by President Barack Obama in 2011.  Prior to his service on the USITC, Chairman Johanson served as International Trade Counsel on the Republican staff of the Committee on Finance of the U.S. Senate from 2003 until his USITC appointment. While on the staff of the Committee on Finance, he was responsible for legislative and policy matters involving negotiations of the World Trade Organization, the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and numerous free trade agreements. He assisted in the passage of implementing legislation for free trade agreements between the United States and Australia, Bahrain, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Korea, Morocco, Nicaragua, Oman, Panama, Peru, and Singapore. He also worked on legislative matters concerning trade preference programs (the Generalized System of Preferences, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, the Caribbean Basin Initiative, and the Andean Trade Preference Act), Miscellaneous Tariff Bills, Trade Adjustment Assistance, and the trade-related provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill.

Prior to his employment at the Committee on Finance, he practiced international trade law for six years at the law firm of Stewart and Stewart in Washington, D.C. Earlier in his career, he worked for Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), Representative Wally Herger (R-CA), and Representative George Radanovich (R-CA).

Additional speakers for later in the year are now being coordinated and will be announced in the coming weeks.

Further information on the Speaker Series, and upcoming sessions, can be obtained by contacting CSUSTL’s Director for Policy Advocacy, Caroline Vilchez, at cvilchez@genesisgroupllc.com.