Michigan State University Extension
Extenstion International Trade Res. - 07039503
03/31/96
Under Secretary Jeffrey E. Garten was confirmed by the U.S. Senate, November 8,1993, as Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, following his appointment by the President.
Under Secretary Garten heads the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA), comprised of more than 2000 women and men around the world. ITA is responsible for trade promotion, assistance to American firms abroad, enforcement of the laws against unfair foreign trade practices, and the development of trade policy generally.
He served as a lead negotiator at the concluding sessions of the GATT Round for anti-dumping and countervailing duties. He is also a lead negotiator for the U.S.-Japan framework talks on the automotive sector. Under Secretary Garten held senior posts on the White House staff and at the State Department in the Nixon, Ford, and the Carter Administrations. His tenure in government included positions at the White House Council on International Economic Policy and the White House International Economic Policy Group. He also was Deputy Director of the State Department Policy Planning Staff under Anthony Lake, who now is the director of the National Security Council.
Under Secretary Garten's business career began in 1979 when he joined the investment banking house of Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeg; in 1984, he was named a managing director at Shearson Lehman Brothers. His responsibilities included providing investment banking advice to finance ministers and central bank governors in Latin America; directing Shearson Lehman Brothers' Japan office and the firm's investment banking activities in Asia; and leading an advisory team which restructured two of the world's major Hong Kong-based shipping companies.
From 1987 to 1990, Mr. Garten was President of the Eliot Group, Inc., an investment bank he founded to provide financial advisory services to companies in America, Asia, Europe and Latin America. In 1991, Mr. Garten was appointed a managing director of the Blackstone Group, where he specialized in international financial advisory work and mergers and acquisitions.
Most recently, the Under Secretary was a professor of finance and economics at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. Under Secretary Garten is the author of A Cold Peace: America,Japan, Germany, and the Struggle for Supremacy, describing the past and future relationships among Washington, Tokyo, and Berlin. He also has written numerous articles for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs magazine.
His writings have covered such topics as American foreign policy, economic topics related to Japan, East Asia, the European Community, and Latin America.
Under Secretary Garten holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army from 1968-1972. He is married to Ina R. Garten.