Katherine Tai facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Katherine Tai
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戴琪
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Official portrait, 2021
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| 19th United States Trade Representative | |||||||||
| In office March 18, 2021 – January 20, 2025 |
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| President | Joe Biden | ||||||||
| Deputy | Sarah Bianchi Jayme White |
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| Preceded by | Robert Lighthizer | ||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jamieson Greer | ||||||||
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| Born |
Katherine Chi Tai
March 18, 1974 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
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| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||
| Spouse | Robert Skidmore | ||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 戴琪 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 戴琪 | ||||||||
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Katherine Chi Tai (born March 18, 1974) is an American lawyer. She served as the 19th United States Trade Representative from March 18, 2021, to January 20, 2025. This important role involves handling trade agreements and issues between the United States and other countries. Katherine Tai is the first Asian American to hold this position. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
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Early Life and Education
Katherine Tai was born in Connecticut on March 18, 1974. Her parents were immigrants from Taiwan. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and went to Sidwell Friends School. Her family moved to Taiwan in 1949 and later came to the United States.
Tai speaks Mandarin fluently. In 1996, she graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. After college, she taught English in China for two years. She then studied law at Harvard Law School, earning her law degree in 2001. After law school, she worked for several law firms.
Career in Trade Policy
From 2007 to 2014, Tai worked for the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). This office helps the U.S. government with trade matters. She became the chief lawyer for China trade issues in 2011. In this role, she worked on trade cases at the World Trade Organization.
In 2014, she joined the United States House Committee on Ways and Means. This committee in Congress deals with taxes and trade. She became the chief trade lawyer for the committee in 2017. While working there, she helped with talks about the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA). She pushed for stronger rules to protect workers in this trade deal. People described her as someone who solves problems in trade policy.
United States Trade Representative (2021–2025)
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Becoming Trade Representative
In December 2020, President-elect Joe Biden chose Katherine Tai to be the next Trade Representative. She was seen as someone who could bring different groups together on trade issues.
The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing for her nomination on February 25, 2021. The committee approved her nomination on March 3, 2021. The full Senate confirmed her on March 17, 2021, with a vote of 98–0.
Her Time in Office
Katherine Tai officially started her job on March 18, 2021. As Trade Representative, she held the rank of ambassador and was part of the President's Cabinet. During her time, she supported a plan to temporarily remove some rules on patents for COVID-19 vaccines. This was to help more countries get access to vaccines.
In June 2021, she was the first Trade Representative to speak to the AFL–CIO, a large group of labor unions. This showed an effort to improve relations between the USTR and workers' groups. She also helped lead the Trade and Technology Council, which started in 2021.
See also
In Spanish: Katherine Tai para niños
