Michael Froman

Distinguished Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Former U.S. Trade Representative Scholars

Michael Froman is a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the Schlesinger Chair at the Miller Center at University of Virginia.  He served in President Obama’s Cabinet as the United States Trade Representative (USTR) from June 2013 to January 2017. As USTR, he was President Obama’s principal advisor, negotiator and spokesperson on international trade and investment issues.

Ambassador Froman led the Office of the United States Trade Representative in its work to open global markets for U.S. goods and services, enforce America’s rights in the global trading system, and foster development through trade. Key initiatives under his leadership included the conclusion of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement in the Asia Pacific and the negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the European Union; the negotiation of agreements on trade facilitation, agriculture, information technology products, services and environmental goods at the World Trade Organization(WTO); the monitoring and enforcement of U.S. trade rights, including through the WTO; and Congressional passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program and the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act.

Before assuming the position of USTR, Froman served at the White House as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, where he was responsible for coordinating policy on international trade and finance, energy security and climate change, and development and democracy issues. He served as the U.S. Sherpa for the G20 and G8 Summits and staffed the President for the APEC Leaders Meetings. In addition, he chaired or co-chaired the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, the Transatlantic Economic Council, the U.S.-India CEO Forum and the U.S.-Brazil CEO Forum.  He played a leading role in the launch of the Obama Administration’s Power Africa, Trade Africa and Feed the Future initiatives, as well as other development policies.

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Froman served in a number of roles at Citigroup, including as CEO of its international insurance business, COO of its alternative investments business and head of its global infrastructure investment business.  He also has served as a Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations and a Resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund.

In the 1990’s, Froman spent seven years in the U.S. Government. He served as Chief of Staff and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Eurasia and the Middle East at the U.S. Department of Treasury. He also worked at the White House, where he served as a Director for International Economic Affairs at the National Security Council and National Economic Council.

Ambassador Froman received a bachelor’s degree in Public and International Affairs from Princeton University (summa cum laude), a doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University and law degree from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.

He has received numerous fellowships and scholarships, including a White House Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, a MacArthur Foundation/Social Science Research Council Fellowship and a Ford Foundation Fellowship.  In 2016, he was selected by Fortune magazine as one of “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” and by Politico as one of the “50 thinkers, doers and visionaries shaping American politics in 2016.”

Froman was born in Northern California. He, his wife, Nancy Goodman, and their two living children, Benjamin and Sarah, reside in Washington, D.C.