USTR Announces Katherine Mastman as Assistant United States Trade Representative for Labor Affairs

WASHINGTON - The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) today announced that Katy Mastman will serve as Assistant United States Trade Representative (AUSTR) for Labor Affairs. Earlier this year, Ms. Mastman served a rotation as Acting AUSTR in the same office. Brenna Dougan, Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Labor Affairs, most recently held the acting role.

"Katy Mastman is a dedicated public servant and brings over a decade of experience fighting for workers to this role. Her commitment to labor issues, workers' rights, and the Biden-Harris Administration's inclusive, worker-centered trade policy is unwavering, and I look forward to working with Katy as she leads our Office of Labor Affairs," said United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai. "I also want to thank Brenna Dougan for serving as Acting Assistant United States Trade Representative for the last several months. I am grateful for our colleagues who not only step into leadership roles, but also model partnership, team-building, and care-taking the agency and our people, as we continue to implement the Biden-Harris Administration's trade agenda."

The Office of Labor Affairs (OLA) is responsible for developing and implementing U.S. trade policy related to labor issues and workers' rights. Working closely with the U.S. Department of Labor, OLA supports USTR initiatives from public submission processes under trade agreements to co-chairing the Labor Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and Trade Policy (LAC)and upholding workers' rights in trade preference programs. The Labor Office is also responsible for monitoring and enforcement of trade agreement provisions, like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement's Rapid Response Mechanism, among other things.

Katy Mastman, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Labor Affairs

Katherine "Katy" Mastman serves as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Labor Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Ms. Mastman previously served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Labor. She handled a wide range of issues related to trade and labor around the globe, and led the Labor Office's work on the USMCA Rapid Response Labor Mechanism and U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade.

Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Mastman worked at the U.S. Department of Labor, in the Office of the Solicitor, as the Counsel for International Affairs and USERRA, and later in the International Labor Affairs Bureau, as the Deputy Director of the Office of Trade and Labor Affairs.

Ms. Mastman holds a J.D. from the NYU School of Law, where she was a Root Tilden Kern Scholar in the Public Interest and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the NYU Review of Law & Social Change. She has a B.A., with Honors, in Community Health and Political Science from Brown University.

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