Department of Commerce

Department of Commerce in the United States

Introduction to Department of Commerce

Department of Commerce, executive department of the United States government, initially established in 1903 as the Department of Commerce and Labor and reorganized as the Department of Commerce in 1913. The mission of the department is to promote domestic and foreign trade and to foster, serve, and promote the nation’s economic development and technological advancement.

The Commerce Department performs a vast array of functions. It coordinates economic policies between the United States and foreign nations, negotiates international trade agreements, promotes increased U.S. participation in foreign markets, and provides the American business community with information on foreign markets. It also offers loans and technical assistance to minority-owned businesses in the United States; promotes development in economically depressed areas of the nation; subsidizes the U.S. merchant marine; explores the oceans and atmosphere; compiles weather reports; gathers and publishes statistical data, including the national census; and issues patents.

Major divisions of the department include the International Trade Administration, the Economic Development Administration, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The department also operates the Bureau of the Census, the Patent and Trademark Office, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (formerly the National Bureau of Standards), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Minority Business Development Agency, and the Bureau of Export Administration.

Within the executive branch of government, the Commerce Department has often played only a minor role in the formulation and execution of public policy. Especially during the decades of the Cold War, following the end of World War II in 1945, Commerce Department efforts to promote business development and the growth of exports received far less attention from both presidents and the public than issues of diplomacy and national defense addressed by the Department of State and the Department of Defense. In this period, the most prominent commerce secretary was Malcolm Baldrige, who ran the department under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1987. Baldrige exercised aggressive leadership through his advocacy of international free trade.

With the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, policymakers began to think about national security in terms of economic strength, providing an opportunity for the Commerce Department to define a broader role for itself. During the presidential administration of Bill Clinton, Commerce Secretary Ron Brown aggressively promoted U.S. business interests abroad, creating a new diplomatic role for the department. Brown believed that, in the long run, creating commercial relations with other nations would offer the United States the best opportunity to influence policies of these nations. His willingness to overlook political and military repression in nations such as China and India raised questions about the tradeoffs between human rights and commercial activity. During his tenure, Brown also fended off attempts by Republican Party members of Congress to eliminate the Commerce Department and transfer its operations to other agencies and departments of the federal government. In April 1996 Brown died in a plane crash while on a trade mission to Bosnia and Croatia. President Clinton appointed U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor as Commerce Secretary in April 1996.” (1)

Department of Commerce Background

Department of Commerce

In Legislation

Department of Commerce in the U.S. Code: Title 15, Chapter 40

The current, permanent, in-force federal laws regulating department of commerce are compiled in the United States Code under Title 15, Chapter 40. It constitutes “prima facie” evidence of statutes relating to Trade Law (including department of commerce) of the United States. The readers can further narrow their legal research on the topic by chapter and subchapter.

Resources

Notes and References

Guide to Department of Commerce

In this Section

Federal Departments, Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense (including Department of Defense Purpose, Department of Defense Organization, Department of Defense Liaison of Command and Department of Defense Supporting Agencies), Department of Education, Department of Energy

(including Department of Energy Purpose, Department of Energy Organization and Department of Energy Research and Development), Department of Health and Human Services (including Department of Health and Human Services History and Department of Health and Human Services Agencies and Services), Department of Homeland Security (including Department of Homeland Security Organization and Functions, Department of Homeland Security Origins and Department of Homeland Security Supporting Agencies), Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice (including Department of Justice Functions, Department of Justice Structure and Department of Justice Associated Agencies), Department of Labor, Department of National Defence, Department of State (including Department of State Administration and Department of State Bureaus), Department of the Air Force, Department of the Army, Department of the Interior (including Department of the Interior Functions and Department of the Interior Principal Agencies), Department of the Navy, Department of the Treasury, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs (including the Department of Veterans Affairs Service Categories, Department of Veterans Affairs Benefits Available and GI Bill of Rights) and Department of War.


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