US President Joe Biden plans to nominate Elaine Trevino, president of the Almond Alliance of California (AAC), to be the lead agriculture negotiator at the White House Trade Representation (USTR).

At the same time, Biden anticipated that he would nominate Marisa Lago for undersecretary of International Trade and Reta Jo Lewis as president of the Export-Import Bank.

«Elaine has developed strong relationships with key stakeholders and has demonstrated a deep understanding of agricultural and trade policy,» Katherine Tai, US Trade Representative, said in a statement.

If she is confirmed as lead agriculture negotiator, Tai noted that Elaine would be the first woman of color and the first Latina in this critical position who will help USTR advance President Biden’s vision of increasing American competitiveness and building back better.

«I hope the United States Senate can quickly confirm her for her to play this important role so that she can get to work on behalf of the American people,» Tai added.

Elaine Trevino

The AAC is a member-based trade association that advocates for regulatory and legislative issues in the areas of international trade, food safety, water quality and availability, crop protection, air quality, worker safety, supply chain, and feed quality.

As the leader of that organization, Elaine understands tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and the importance of maintaining strong trade agreements and America’s global positioning.

Additionally, the USTR statement said, Elaine has worked on promoting funding for Covid-19 relief, addressing retaliatory tariffs, climate-smart agriculture, public-private partnerships to open up new markets and strengthen existing markets and address the technical, sanitary and phytosanitary barriers.

Elaine Trevino served as Under Secretary in the California Department of Food and Agriculture for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Governor Gray Davis.

In addition, she was responsible for overseeing international export and trade programs, grant funding for specialty crop blocks, the marketing services division, plant health and pest prevention, and the county fair network in the entire state.

Elaine received her undergraduate degree from the University of California Berkeley and attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government.