Trade Policy Staff Committee

Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) in relation with International Trade

In the context of trade organizations, Christopher Mark (1993) provided the following definition of Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC): The first-line operating group in the interagency mechanism for developing and coordinating US policies on international trade and trade-related investment issues. The TPSC is administered and chaired by USTR. Member agencies, represented on the TPSC at the senior civil servant level, include the Departments of Commerce, Agriculture, State, Treasury, Labor, Justice, Defense, Interior, Transportation, and Energy, the Office of Management and Budget, the Council of Economic Advisors, and the International Development Cooperation Agency; the National Economic Council and the National Security Council have a joint representative. The US International Trade Commission is a non-voting member. Representatives of other agencies also may be invited to specific meetings. Supporting the TPSC are more than 60 subcommittees and task forces focusing on specific topics, to which USTR assigns responsibilities for economic analysis through the interagency process. Conclusions and recommendations are then presented to the full TPSC as the basis for reaching interagency policy consensus. See also TPRG .