Robert Lighthizer is an international trade attorney and former U.S. Trade Representative with over four decades of experience in trade policy, international negotiations, and economic legislation. As USTR from 2017 to 2021, he led negotiations on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the U.S.-China Phase One Trade Agreement, and trade agreements with Japan and South Korea, reshaping U.S. trade policy toward a more reciprocal, enforcement-driven framework.
Earlier in his career, Lighthizer served as Deputy USTR under President Ronald Reagan, negotiating numerous bilateral trade agreements, and as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, where he played a central role in major tax and economic legislation. In addition to his government service, he spent more than 30 years as a partner at Skadden, Arps, specializing in international trade law and litigation.