Ron Kirk Confirmed as 16th US Trade Representative

Published March 18, 2009 @ 06:57PM PT

The Office of the United States Trade Representative has officially announced the US Senate's approval of Ron Kirk as the newest US Trade Representative. Aside from being the 16th USTR, he is also the first African-American to serve the post. According the the Public Citizen's Eyes on Trade blog, Ron Kirk was confirmed on a 95-5 Senate vote with, Sens. Robert Byrd (D-WV), Jim Bunning (R-KY), Kit Bond (R-MO), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) opposing.

Right as Ron Kirk became Ambassador Kirk, the Citizen's Trade Campaign sent their letter of congratulations while also urging him to play the integral role of ushering in a "New Day on Trade" and show his support for the TRADE Act over past models of FTAs.

Check out our last blog post about Ambassador Kirk and also keep you eyes on the Public Citizen Global Trade Watch blog for informative updates.

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Zarah is the Operations Manager for the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store, a project of the international human rights organization, Global Exchange. Alongside her work with marginalized communities from all over the world to get their products into the international market, Zarah serves to educate and inform the public about a more just and sustainable trading system.