Trade, tariffs and industry

Executive Order 13601: Establishment of the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center

President: Barack Obama

Created a USTR-led center pooling agency lawyers, analysts and language expertise for trade enforcement.

Status: Superseded. Is Executive Order 13601 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13601 was superseded. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13601 do?

EO 13601 created the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center to investigate unfair foreign trade practices and assemble stronger cases under trade agreements and US law. USTR led the center with a Commerce deputy and staff detailed from across government. Congress then established the Interagency Center on Trade Implementation, Monitoring, and Enforcement in the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, expanding and placing the mission on a statutory footing.

Administration position: The center developed and coordinated cases; it did not itself impose tariffs, decide WTO disputes or displace agencies’ statutory enforcement powers.
SignedFebruary 28, 2012
LeadUnited States Trade Representative
Original bodyInteragency Trade Enforcement Center
SuccessorStatutory ICTIME from 2016

Before and after

Before the order

Trade enforcement expertise and information were dispersed across USTR, Commerce and other departments.

After the order

A central team pooled specialists, later becoming the broader statutory ICTIME organization.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
USTRDirect interagency investigations and enforcement strategyContinuing through ICTIME
AgenciesDetail staff and share expertiseContinuing under the statutory center
ICTIMEMonitor agreements and develop enforcement actionsCurrent

What happened next

EO 13601 established ITEC.

Congress created ICTIME in Public Law 114-125.