Thea Lee, a former AFL-CIO trade economist and top official for 20 years, will be leading the Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs, which is involved in both enforcement of the USMCA labor chapter and in investigating forced labor and the worst forms of child labor. The AFL-CIO reacted to the news of her appointment by saying “there is no better person to help strengthen enforcement of labor standards that increase the power of workers in the U.S. and around the world. She will also help shape policies to end forced labor and egregious worker rights violations throughout global supply chains.” The job is not one that requires Senate confirmation.
International Bond & Marine hired Lee Barther as vice president of operations, the company said in a May 3 news release. Barther previously “spent the majority of his career at C.A. Shea & Company,” IB&M said. IB&M was acquired by OneBeacon Insurance Group in September 2020.
Akin Gump added Cindy Owens, previously with Covington & Burling, as a counsel in its international trade practice, the firm said in a news release. Owens “represents multinational clients on customs matters, including classification, valuation, country of origin, drawback, transfer pricing, foreign trade zones, bonded warehouses, free trade agreements and general entry process requirements,” it said.
Angela Ellard, chief Republican trade counsel on the House Ways and Means Committee, will be one of the four deputy directors-general at the World Trade Organization, Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala announced May 4. Ellard has served on the committee staff since 1995.
Arent Fox hired David Tafuri as a partner, Richard Griffiths as a senior adviser and Jasmine Zaki as an associate in the International Trade and Investment practice, the law firm said in an April 29 news release. All three previously worked at Dentons.
Celeste Drake, who often opposed trade agreements in her eight years leading trade and globalization policy at the AFL-CIO, was named Made in America director, a new job at the Office of Management and Budget. Most recently, she was a top lobbyist at the Directors Guild of America. The Biden administration said Drake “will shape and implement Federal procurement and financial management policy to help carry out the President’s vision of a future made in all of America by all of America’s workers -- including minority entrepreneurs and small businesses in every region in our country.”
The Coalition for a Prosperous America hired Amanda Mayoral as an economist and Robby Smith as a national security adviser, the trade group said in an April 21 news release. "Mayoral will work with the Economics Team on building CPA’s resources of original research and analysis to demonstrate the effectiveness of aggressive policies for trade, industry, and economic growth," said CPA. "Smith will work with the Government Relations Team to continue to expand CPA’s presence in Washington, including on Capitol Hill and in the administration, with a special emphasis on China policy, national security, and human rights." Mayoral previously worked at the World Bank and U.S. Institute of Peace. Smith joins from the United Nations.
The U.S. Council of International Business hired Alice Slayton Clark, previously a senior government relations adviser at Jacobs Global Trade & Compliance, as director for Investment, Trade and China policy, the USCIB said in an April 21 news release.
Eugene Laney, previously the head of international government affairs for DHL Express, will be the president and CEO of the American Association of Exporters and Importers, the AAEI said in an April 19 news release. Laney's first day will be April 26. Marianne Rowden, the previous CEO, left the trade group at the end of March (see 2101050054).
Beth Baltzan, a former Democratic trade counsel at the House Ways and Means Committee and career staffer in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, has been named a senior advisor to USTR Katherine Tai. “She understands the connective tissues in our economy and I look forward to leaning on her expertise and guidance as we shape a worker-centric trade policy,” Tai said in a statement announcing the appointment. Baltzan has testified before Congress that the World Trade Organization hobbled trade remedies (see 1905220038) and has been critical of the impulse to lower tariffs as the primary approach of trade policy (see 1905220038).