Professional Affiliation

Senior International Trade Analyst in the Advanced Technology and Machinery Division of the U.S. International Trade Commission

Expert Bio

Ralph Watkins is a Senior International Trade Analyst in the Advanced Technology and Machinery Division of the U.S. International Trade Commission. He is responsible for monitoring and reporting on factors influencing the domestic and global competitiveness of 15 U.S. manufacturing sectors and on the use of foreign assembly plants.

From 1986-2005, Mr. Watkins was Chief of the Miscellaneous Manufactures Branch and the Program Manager for Production Sharing. He was a Visiting Scholar in the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas at El Paso during Spring Semester 2009. He served one year (2006-07) at the Office of the United States Trade Representative as Deputy Director for the Generalized System of Preferences. Mr. Watkins has written extensively about the cross-border integration of manufacturing in North America and attempts to develop export-oriented manufacturing industries in the Caribbean Basin and East Africa.

His most recent paper, “The China Challenge to Manufacturing in Mexico,” was published in the Journal of the Flagstaff Institute, in June 2007. Watkins received an M.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Oregon.