Inside the U.S. Department of Commerce's Trade Policy & Analysis Team: The Architects of U.S. Trade Strategy

Introduction: The Analytical Backbone of U.S. Trade Policy

Deep inside the U.S. Department of Commerce, a relatively small but highly specialized team operates as the analytical engine behind America's most consequential trade decisions. Known as the Trade Policy & Analysis (TP&A) team—accessible through the department’s trade portal at trade.gov—its core mission is to provide data, economic analysis, and industry-specific insights on a wide range of trade and investment issues that directly affect the competitiveness of U.S. industries.

This team matters now more than ever. In an era of fractured supply chains, resurgent industrial policy, and heightened national security scrutiny of foreign investments, policymakers need more than political talking points. They need rigorous empirical grounding—tariff impact simulations, sector-specific competitiveness reports, intellectual property risk assessments, and real-time data on how trade agreements affect American workers and companies. TP&A delivers exactly that, combining deep economic expertise with granular industry knowledge to support decision-making in a complex global trade environment. The team’s work quietly shapes negotiations with allies, informs sanctions policies, and even determines which foreign acquisitions get blocked on national security grounds.

[IMAGE: A wide shot of a government data center with analysts at work, or a conceptual image of layered data graphs overlaid on a map of trade routes.]

Leadership and Organizational Structure

The TP&A team is led by Deputy Assistant Secretary Scott Tatlock, a seasoned trade policy official who oversees the team’s strategic direction and coordination with other Commerce bureaus and interagency partners. Supporting Tatlock are a group of senior advisors and economists who bridge the gap between raw data and policy action:

• Natalie Soroka (Senior Advisor)
• Brooke Tenison (Senior International Economist)
• Emma KurtzFreilich (International Economist)
• Yolanda Peterson (Management & Program Analyst)

This core leadership team provides day-to-day guidance on analytical priorities, stakeholder engagement, and program management. They ensure that the four specialized offices beneath them operate in concert rather than in silos.

The real operational muscle comes from the directors of those four offices. Notably, several positions are currently filled by acting directors, a reflection of both the rapid turnover typical in trade policy roles and the team’s adaptability in maintaining continuity:

• Alex Gambardella – Acting Director, Office of Investment Security (OIS)
• Amanda Reynolds – Acting Director, Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (OTEA)
• Katrice Kelly – Acting Director, Office of Trade Negotiations and Analysis (OTNA)
• Stevan Mitchell – Director, Office of Standards and Intellectual Property (OSIP)

This mix of permanent and acting leadership indicates a structure that is both stable enough to retain institutional knowledge and flexible enough to pivot with shifting political priorities. It also means that informal networks and cross-office collaboration are essential for the team’s effectiveness.

[IMAGE: An organizational chart-style diagram showing the hierarchy, with photos or avatars for each leader (if available) connected by clean lines.]

The Four Offices: Missions and Relevance

Each of the four offices within TP&A has a distinct mandate, yet their work is deeply interconnected. Together, they form the analytical backbone for U.S. trade strategy across security, standards, data, and negotiation.

Office of Investment Security (OIS): The CFIUS Gatekeeper

The Office of Investment Security manages the Department of Commerce’s obligations as a statutory member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). This interagency committee reviews foreign acquisitions, mergers, and investments in U.S. companies for potential national security risks. OIS provides the Commerce perspective on these reviews, assessing how a transaction might affect the competitiveness of critical U.S. industries—especially in sensitive areas like semiconductors, advanced batteries, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence.

In practice, OIS analysts evaluate supply chain dependencies, technology transfer risks, and the foreign ownership structures of firms involved in dual-use technologies. Their recommendations can tip the balance toward approval with mitigation measures, or toward a presidential block. As the global competition for technology leadership intensifies, OIS has become one of the most consequential—and least visible—offices in the U.S. trade policy apparatus. Its work directly shapes the landscape of global trade in high-tech sectors.

Office of Standards and Intellectual Property (OSIP): Defending U.S. Innovation

The Office of Standards and Intellectual Property is tasked with advancing strategies, policies, and programs that help U.S. industry compete globally through robust intellectual property protection and participation in international standards-setting bodies. OSIP works to ensure that American companies—from pharmaceutical giants to small software startups—can enforce their patents and copyrights abroad, and that international technical standards (for 5G, medical devices, cybersecurity, etc.) are not captured by state-backed competitors who might use them as trade barriers.

OSIP also participates in negotiating annexes on IP in trade agreements, conducts country-specific IP climate assessments, and provides technical assistance to developing countries on IP enforcement. For industries like semiconductors, digital services, and life sciences, OSIP’s work is existential: weak IP protections abroad can erode billions of dollars in revenue and stifle innovation at home. The office’s standards work is equally vital—shaping the rules of emerging technologies before they become locked in by other nations.

Office of Trade and Economic Analysis (OTEA): The Data Engine

The Office of Trade and Economic Analysis is the team’s primary data hub. It produces the trade and industry statistics that underpin national trade policies, tariff decisions, export promotion programs, and sector-specific reports. OTEA economists run models that estimate the employment and gross domestic product impacts of proposed trade agreements, analyze the effects of tariff exclusions, and produce the “Competitiveness of U.S. Industries” series that benchmarks domestic sectors against foreign rivals.

Beyond number-crunching, OTEA also conducts qualitative research on emerging industry competitiveness trends, such as the reshoring of manufacturing, the impact of climate regulations on trade flows, and the evolution of regional supply chains. The office’s outputs are used by the U.S. Trade Representative, the National Security Council, and Commerce’s own International Trade Administration to shape negotiation priorities and dispute settlement strategies. Without OTEA’s analysis, many trade policy decisions would be flying blind.

Office of Trade Negotiations and Analysis (OTNA): Crafting the U.S. Position

The Office of Trade Negotiations and Analysis is responsible for developing the United States’ strategy and technical positions for trade negotiations, and for providing the economic analysis that backs those positions. OTNA works hand-in-glove with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and other agencies to prepare negotiating texts, model the sectoral effects of tariff offers, and conduct ex-ante assessments of trade liberalization scenarios.

OTNA’s work extends beyond traditional free trade agreements. It also covers bilateral investment treaties, digital trade rules, services negotiations, and trade-related aspects of climate and labor policy. The office’s analysts are often the ones in the room during negotiating rounds, supplying real-time economic inputs as talks unfold. In an environment where trade negotiations are increasingly about non-tariff barriers—such as data localization, forced technology transfer, and state subsidies—OTNA’s ability to quantify those barriers is indispensable.

[IMAGE: A split-screen illustration: left side shows a meeting room with negotiators around a table; right side shows a computer screen with trade data dashboards and a world map with highlighted trade flows.]

The Team’s Hidden Impact on Global Supply Chains and Technology Policy

While each office operates with its own mandate, the real power of TP&A lies in how their analyses combine to influence broader U.S. economic statecraft. Take the example of a proposed foreign acquisition of a U.S. maker of advanced sensors used in autonomous vehicles. OIS would assess the national security risk and supply chain dependencies; OSIP would evaluate whether the target company holds critical patents that could be exploited; OTEA would provide data on the sensor market concentration and the impact of losing domestic production; and OTNA would consider whether the transaction could undermine ongoing trade negotiations with the acquiring country. The resulting cross-office analysis becomes an integrated recommendation that informs the CFIUS decision and may also feed into trade policy actions like export controls or tariff adjustments.

This hidden impact is especially pronounced in three areas:

• Supply chain resilience: TP&A analysis has been central to identifying bottlenecks in semiconductors, rare earths, and pharmaceuticals, leading to executive orders and investment incentives aimed at reshoring critical capabilities.
• Technology competition: By monitoring how foreign competitors use standards and IP to lock U.S. firms out of emerging markets, TP&A helps shape the U.S. position in the World Trade Organization and plurilateral forums on digital trade.
• Trade negotiation leverage: The team’s economic models are used to simulate the cost of failed negotiations, giving U.S. negotiators a powerful tool to demonstrate the stakes to counterparties.

Despite its low public profile, the Trade Policy & Analysis team is arguably one of the most strategically important units within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its analysts do not make headlines—but the tariffs, block deals, and trade agreements they inform often do. Understanding its structure and leadership offers a rare glimpse into how the U.S. actually architects its trade policy analysis and defends its economic interests in an increasingly contested world.

[IMAGE: A stylized infographic showing a central hub labeled 'Trade Policy & Analysis' with four radiating pillars representing the four offices, each connected to different regions on a world map with flowing data streams and supply chain nodes. Blue and gold tones, modern clean design.]