WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Commerce has named Jason Kearns and Randolph Stayin chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the International Trade Commission, the body that regulates import duties and tariffs, among other things.
Mr. Kearns, a Democrat from Colorado who has been with the ITC since March 2018, succeeds David S. Johanson as chairman. His term runs through June 2022.
Mr. Stayin is a Republican from Virginia who has been a commissioner since August 2019.
Their terms run through June 2022.
Mr. Johanson, a Republican from Texas, stays with the ITC as a commissioner, along with Rhonda Schmidtlein, a Democrat from Missouri, and Amy Karpel, a Democratic from Washington.
The ITC is governed by six commissioners, who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. No more than three commissioners may be of any one political party; currently there are three Democrats and two Republicans serving as commissioners.
Mr. Kearns was nominated in January 2017 to the ITC by President Barack Obama and re-nominated by President Donald Trump in June 2017. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 1, 2018, for the term expiring on Dec. 16, 2024.
Prior to moving into public service in 2003, he practiced international law for nearly a decade.
Prior to being nominated to the ITC, Mr. Kearns was trade counsel for 11 years on the Democratic staff of the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives, including serving as chief international trade counsel. Before working with Ways and Means, he was assistant general counsel of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative from 2003-2006.
Earlier in his career, he practiced international trade law at Wilmer, Culter & Pickering from 2000-2003 and worked at Mayer, Brown & Platt from 1995-1998.
Mr. Stayin was nominated to the USITC by President Trump in October 2017, renominated in January 2019 and confirmed on Aug. 1, 2019, for a term expiring on June 16, 2026.
Prior to his USITC appointment, Mr. Stayin had more than 40 years of litigation, legislative, and regulatory advocacy experience in international trade policy, trade law, and regulatory compliance.
He is the former chief of staff and director of legislation to U.S. Senator Robert Taft Jr. of Ohio.
The ITC is an independent, nonpartisan, quasi-judicial federal agency that makes determinations in proceedings involving imports claimed to injure a domestic industry, violations of intellectual property rights, or other unfair methods of competition in connection with imported goods; provides independent tariff, trade, and competitiveness-related analysis and information to the legislative and executive branches of government; and maintains the U.S. tariff schedule.
The commission currently is considering a petition from the United Steelworkers union for antidumping and countervailing duties in passenger and light truck tires from South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.