Gilbert Kaplan

Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade
United States Department of Commerce
Washington, DC

Gilbert B. Kaplan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 13, 2018 and assumed his position as Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade in the United States Department of Commerce on March 20, 2018. In his role, he leads a workforce of 2,100 personnel within the International Trade Administration (“ITA”).

He oversees three major units at ITA: Global Markets and the Domestic and Foreign Commercial Service, Industry and Analysis, and Enforcement and Compliance. The Global Markets team provides support to tens of thousands of American exporters, with over 200 offices in the U.S and worldwide to assist exporters on the spot. Industry and Analysis is a powerhouse of expertise with an ability to leverage data analytics and implement strategies to strengthen global competitiveness of U.S. Industries. The Enforcement and Compliance staff are charged with enforcing U.S. trade laws, particularly antidumping and countervailing duty law, holding our trading partners accountable for their international commitments to ensure a level playing field at home and abroad.

Prior to assuming his current position, Mr. Kaplan was a partner at King & Spalding and part of the International Trade Practice Group.

He represented U.S. companies and workers in a wide range of cases on antidumping (price discrimination), countervailing duties (subsidies), and Section 337 (intellectual property infringement). He also advised clients on trade policy matters, as well as trade negotiations such as those involving the WTO and international anti-subsidy agreements. Mr. Kaplan filed and prosecuted the first successful countervailing duty (anti-subsidy) case ever against China in 2007.

He is the founder of The Conference on the Renaissance of American Manufacturing. He is also the co-founder of the Manufacturing Policy Initiative (MPI) at Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the first and only university program in the country focusing on what public policy steps should be taken to revitalize U.S. manufacturing.

Mr. Kaplan served as the first President of the Committee to Support U. S. Trade Laws (CSUSTL), from 2010-2012. CSUSTL is an organization of companies, workers, farmers, and ranchers dedicated to preserving and enhancing the U.S. trade remedy laws.

From 1983 to 1988, Mr. Kaplan served in several senior positions in the U.S. government. He was the Acting Assistant Secretary and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. While there, Mr. Kaplan was in charge of administering the U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws and conducted more than five hundred antidumping and countervailing duty cases. These included cases on agricultural products, steel products, textiles and apparel, and a variety of semiconductor and high-technology products. At that time, he was a key negotiator of the U.S.-Japan Agreement on Trade in Semiconductors. Additionally, Mr. Kaplan supervised the President’s Steel Program, the U.S.-Canada agreement on lumber, and the machine tool program. He was the Administration’s primary spokesman and negotiator on antidumping, countervailing duty, and Section 232 (imports affecting national security) legislation.

Mr. Kaplan graduated from Harvard Law School, cum laude, Harvard College, magna cum laude, and Phillips Exeter Academy, with high honors. He and his wife Betty Ann have two children, Katharine and Nicholas.