ABSTRACT
The organizational means by which a government makes trade policy often has an impact on the nature of that policy. Broad national values, in turn, affect the structure of the decision making process. The majority of trade policy decisions consist of relatively minor actions that either maintain the status quo or result in minor incrementalism. A typical policy action relates to a single country, a single product, or even a single company. Many of these issues in turn are handled at the office director or deputy assistant secretary level. The executive branch's machinery to make trade policy exists on three different levels: the Executive Office of the President, the line departments and agencies, and interagency coordinating groups. A comparable situation exists in the legislative branch where the majority of all standing committees has jurisdiction over some facet of trade policy: import restraints, export restraints, export promotion, high-tech competitiveness, agriculture, and foreign direct investment.
