Bernard Ascher

Bernard Ascher is Director of Service Industry Affairs in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, an agency within the Executive Office of the President. He participates in international trade negotiations, particularly those affecting service industries, such as transportation, tourism, business and professional services, education, and health care.

He represents the United States at meetings of various committees and other groups involved in negotiations under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) at the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva.

He was actively engaged in the services negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada and in the Uruguay Round negotiations, which resulted in the creation of the WTO and the GATS. He has also served on U.S. delegations in multilateral negotiations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), as well as in bilateral negotiations with various countries.

Prior to September 1981 when he joined USTR, Mr. Ascher served with the U.S. Department of Commerce in various capacities, including Director of the Office of Import Programs. He started in government as a commodity industry analyst at the U.S. Tariff Commission (now known as the U.S. International Trade Commission).

Mr. Ascher received a B.A. degree in economics from Brooklyn College and an M.B.A. degree in international trade from City University of New York. He taught economics part-time at the University of Baltimore and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Graduate School and is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of International Commerce and Public Policy at George Mason University. He is a member of beta gamma sigma honor society and the American Economic Association.