Gregory Doud, who was chief economist for the National
Cattlemen’s Association for eight years, has been named chief agriculture
negotiator for the United States.
Re-negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement will
be one of his first challenges.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has also chosen his top
trade official. Jason Hafemeister, currently serving as the acting deputy under
secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, will be acting deputy
under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs.
Doud has been given the rank of ambassador, United States
Trade Representative.
Doud is the current
president of the Commodity Markets Council, where he has served since
2013.
Prior to that, he was a senior professional staff member of
the Senate Agriculture Committee for Sen. Pat Roberts, a Republican from
Kansas, and Sen. Thad Cochran, a Republican from Missouri.
He has also worked for the U.S. Wheat Associates and the
World Perspectives firm. Doud was raised on a farm near Mankato, Kansas.
Hafemeister has served with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture for nearly 20 years. He was the lead U.S. negotiator on agriculture
in the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha Round, the Central America Free
Trade Agreement, and China’s accession to the WTO.
He was instrumental in finalizing the recent agreement to
allow the importing of U.S. beef to China.
