Mr Trachtenberg comes to USAPEEC from USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, where he spent 15 years in a variety of positions, both in Washington and abroad.

In this new position at the council, he will work closely with President Jim Sumner and USAPEEC members and staff on trade policy issues.

Eric Trachtenberg

"USAPEEC has worked closely with Eric throughout his FAS career in many of our key markets, including China, Russia and Taiwan," said USAPEEC President Jim Sumner. "His experience will help us to address our ongoing trade issues, which seem to be growing by the week. I'm looking forward to working with Eric. He brings additional insight to our team, and we're excited to have him on board."

"I am very pleased and honoured to join the USAPEEC family. I look forward to working with all our members as we address the market access issues that challenge our industry," Trachtenberg said.

Before he joined USAPEEC on 1 September, Mr Trachtenberg was posted in Beijing with FAS for three years. He served for two years as director of the US Agricultural Trade Office and for a year was senior agricultural attaché in the Office of Agricultural Affairs at the US Embassy.

From 2001-05, he was deputy chief of the Agricultural Affairs Section at the American Institute in Taiwan, and from 1998-2001 he was assigned to the Office of Agricultural Affairs at the US Embassy in Moscow.

Mr Trachtenberg joined FAS in 1995, where he worked in Washington on agricultural trade policy issues and World Trade Organization accession negotiations. Previously, he worked in the US House of Representatives, the Environmental Protection Agency, and on the Taiwan stock market.

He holds a master's degree in public administration from the University of Southern California in Washington. He also received a master's degree in agricultural economics from Michigan State University and a bachelor's degree in government and economics from Cornell University.

Mr Trachtenberg is fluent in Russian and speaks Chinese.