<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="WordSection1" style="page: WordSection1;"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">INSIDE US TRADE<o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><b class=""><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""> </span></b></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="field-content"><b class=""><span style="font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Vaughn named acting U.S. Trade Representative and general counsel</span></b><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="field-content"> </span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class="">March 3, 2017<o:p class=""></o:p></div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Steel attorney Stephen Vaughn has been named the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's general counsel and acting U.S. Trade Representative, according to the agency.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Vaughn, who was a member of President Trump's USTR transition team, was expected to be chosen for the general counsel's job once Robert Lighthizer is confirmed as USTR. Sources last month told <em class="">Inside U.S. Trade</em> that Vaughn – in an unofficial capacity – was already <a href="https://insidetrade.com/node/157665" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">working out of the chief of staff's office at USTR</a> and was familiarizing himself with issues and staff.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Vaughn's appointment to the general counsel's office and designation as acting trade representative were not announced by the agency, but his new roles are listed on the USTR website and were confirmed by an agency official.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">According to sources, Vaughn has tasked USTR staff to prepare material that would lay out ways to move away from using the WTO dispute settlement system.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The Trump administration, in its <a href="https://insidetrade.com/node/157743" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">first annual trade policy agenda</a>, stressed this week that the U.S. “will aggressively defend American sovereignty over matters of trade policy.”<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">In a draft of the report obtained by<em class=""> Inside U.S. Trade</em> on Feb. 28, USTR laid out as one of the “key principles” of the Trump administration's trade agenda a plan to resist “efforts by other countries – or international bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO) – to weaken the rights and benefits of, or increase the obligations under, the various trade agreements to which the United States is a party.”<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">But the official report, published on March 1, was modified to read that the U.S. would be “resisting efforts by other countries – or Members of international bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO) – to advance interpretations that would weaken the rights and benefits of, or increase the obligations under, the various trade agreements to which the United States is a party.”<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The report's strong stance on the WTO as a whole and its dispute settlement mechanism in particular has <a href="https://insidetrade.com/node/157756" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">led lawmakers to urge the administration not to withdraw from the global trading system</a> but instead to improve it.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Vaughn, who used to work with Lighthizer, has experience in defending the U.S. steel industry. Lighthizer – who has also represented steel companies – is awaiting a confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. His confirmation requires a waiver to a provision of the 1974 Trade Act because of his work he did for foreign governments in the 1980s.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Vaughn replaces Maria Pagan as acting USTR; she had served in the role since the Trump administration took office. Pagan is the agency's deputy general counsel, a job she also held during the Obama administration.<o:p class=""></o:p></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Sources have said the U.S. will “most likely” send the acting USTR to a trade summit slated to take place in Chile later this month, but USTR told<em class="">Inside U.S. Trade </em>this week that the administration “has <a href="https://insidetrade.com/node/157763" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">not made a final decision on who will represent the United States</a> at that meeting.” – <em class="">Jenny Leonard </em>(<a href="mailto:jleonard@iwpnews.com" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">jleonard@iwpnews.com</a>)<o:p class=""></o:p></p><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>