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45 years old, married with two daughters, Spanish national, studied international economics (incl. political and legal aspects) in Spain (Univesidad Autonoma de Madrid), the UK (University of Kent at Canterbury), and Italy (Universita Degli Studi di Pavia), with further specialisation in Spain (Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad de Granada), and the US (Harvard). Worked for the Spanish Embassy in Budapest dealing with trade and economic matters before joining the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade, where he held successive positions as Head of Section, Deputy Head of Unit and Acting Head of Unit dealing amongst others with bilateral and multilateral policy, relations with Member States, relations with third countries, and trade and development. Joined the EU Delegation in Beijing in July 2013 as Head of the Trade Section

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Tim Stratford is managing partner in Covington & Burling LLP’s Beijing office and a member of the International Trade, Corporate and Government Affairs Practice Groups. Mr. Stratford’s practice is focused on advising international clients doing business in China and assisting Chinese companies seeking to expand their businesses globally. As a former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, Mr. Stratford is the most senior former U.S. trade official working as a member of the U.S. business community in China. Except for the five years he spent in Washington, D.C. in government service (2005-2010), Mr. Stratford has lived and worked continuously in the greater China region since 1982.

While at USTR, Mr. Stratford was responsible for developing and implementing U.S. trade policy toward mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao and Mongolia. He worked closely with other senior U.S. and Chinese officials from numerous government departments and agencies to address problems encountered by companies engaged in bilateral trade and investment and co-chaired a number of important bilateral working groups and dialogues established under the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade and the U.S.-China Strategic & Economic Dialogue.

Prior to serving at USTR, Mr. Stratford was General Counsel for General Motors’ China operations, where he was a member of GM’s senior management team in China and oversaw the company’s legal and trade policy work. Mr. Stratford also served previously as Minister-Counselor for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and as Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Brigham Young University, and is fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese.