Ronald Baumgarten brings his extensive experience in international trade law and negotiations to the BakerHostetler International Trade and National Security team. He most recently served as the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in the Office of Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Prior to this time working on regional matters, he was the Director, and later Senior Director, in the USTR Office of Agricultural Affairs from 2010 to 2018. Ron also gained valuable experience as Associate General Counsel with the USTR Office of the General Counsel, where he litigated WTO disputes and advised on trade remedies.
Ron has the knowledge and insights to provide sophisticated advice and counsel to clients who are operating in a world characterized by increasingly complex trade and investment relationships. He has developed and implemented U.S. trade and investment policies with respect to Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore on a variety of issues, and represented the U.S. in agricultural negotiations and bilateral engagement with numerous regions and countries, including Africa, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and Southeast Asia. He also concluded bilateral agreements with Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam, opening markets to hundreds of millions of dollars of additional U.S. meat and poultry exports.
Ron graduated summa cum laude from both the Boston University School of Law and The American University in Washington D.C. He also spent a year as a Rotary Scholar at the Institute of Political Studies in Strasbourg, France, where he received a Certificat d'Etudes Politiques, Mention assez bien. Before attending law school, he served as a Trade Policy Officer for the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.