John Liuzzi MPP 2001

John Liuzzi enjoys his work in the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, and not just for the travel that takes him everywhere from Western Europe to the Far East. Liuzzi loves his job because he is promoting free trade while simultaneously helping ensure the proper function of the rules-based global trading system. “Working to prevent or remove trade barriers is the heart of my work; there’s nothing more gratifying than helping an exporter (often a small business) get past an illegal trade barrier. In an era of globalization, the extent of a small business’s access to foreign markets can often mean the difference between success and failure, creating wealth and new jobs or being forced to close up shop for good.”

As a member of the Office of Agreements Compliance, Liuzzi investigates and resolves foreign trade barriers under agreements to which the US is party. Frequently, his clients are smaller companies trading overseas for the first time. “And along the way, they may come up against trade barriers, and they don’t know what to do. They don’t know if these barriers are legal or not, or if the US even has a trade agreement with the country in question. So they come to us.”

Complementing his implementation work, Liuzzi participates in trade negotiations as a member of US negotiating delegations; his most recent work was serving as a senior adviser to the negotiator for a chapter of the US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. His specialty, government procurement trade, focuses on trade in things governments buy, everything from ball point pens to metal detectors to nuclear power plants. “In any economy,” he says, “the government is the largest purchaser of goods and services, and there’s a set of trade rules that regulate how it does this at the international level.”

Liuzzi always knew he wanted to pursue federal government service, “to work on policy that affects the entire nation,” and has found satisfaction in working to implement and improve our foreign economic policy. “I firmly believe that increasing trade between nations not only increases wealth, but also fosters development, enhances security, and promotes democracy. To be sure, the current global trading system is far from perfect; there are many problems that have not yet been resolved or even understood—labor issues and environmental concerns for example. But without solid trading systems based on clear, defined rules to which members agree to adhere, how can there be any hope of addressing or making progress on these issues? We have to start somewhere, and I think we’ve made a very good start.”