Ron Kirk

U.S. Trade Representative (since March 2009)

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Why He Matters

As the U.S. Trade Representative, Kirk has promoted free trade even as the 2008-2009 recession and soaring unemployment have created pressure to protect U.S. jobs and markets. He has made progress on key free trade agreements with partners like South Korea and applied pressure to China and other trading partners to comply with standards for labor and environmental protection. Kirk is considered one of the top prospects to succeed Gary Locke as Commerce secretary.

A lawyer by training, Kirk became the first black mayor of Dallas in 1995. He was also Texas' first black nominee for Senate in 2002, when he ran for the seat now occupied by Sen. John Cornyn (R).

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Partner at Vinson & Elkins (2005 to 2009); Partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell (2001 to 2005); Mayor of the City of Dallas (1995 to 2001)
Birthday: June 27, 1954
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Alma Mater: Austin College, B.A., (political science and sociology) 1976; University of Texas Law School, J.D., 1979
Spouse: Matrice

Religion: Methodist
Office : N/A
Email : N/A
Web site

Path to Power

A native son of Texas, Kirk grew up in Austin at a time when the city was still segregated. "When I was born, my mother and father could not vote, they could not attend the University of Texas," he told the Texas Tribune in 2011. Kirk's father went to work in the city's post office, after turning down two chances to go to medical school because he couldn't afford it. Kirk's mother was a teacher and, later, an NAACP activist.

Kirk himself attended a newly-integrated school. He struggled to deal with hostility from both classmates and neighbors about his choice, and as president of the senior class, helped mediate among classmates after a race riot at the school. He left home to begin college at Austin College in Sherman, a town about an hour outside of Dallas, but returned before completing school to "find himself," as he told his father.

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Early Career

Soon Kirk was back in school, however, and he went on to graduate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1979. He was interested in politics, and he clerked at the Texas statehouse. But his initial goal was to be a trial lawyer, and he joined a private Dallas firm.

He got his first job in politics when Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) in 1981 recruited him as a legislative assistant in his Washington office.

From that point forward, Kirk would continue to shuttle between the public and private sectors. After a two-year stint in D.C., Kirk returned to Texas but continued in government at the Dallas attorney general's office. He rose to become the assistant attorney general for government relations, serving as the top lobbyist for Dallas, before jumping to the corporate side again as a lobbyist for a prominent Dallas law firm. In 1994, he returned to government when Texas Gov. Ann Richards (D) appointed him secretary of state.

Mayor of Dallas

Just a year later, Kirk decided to run for Dallas mayor. He had joined the Dallas firm Gardere & Wynne and ran on a pro-business platform in a city that was still divided along racial lines.

During his campaign, Kirk first secured support from the white business community, the kin-makers in town, according to Dallas political observers. He began, as the Christian Science Monitor reported, "by calling on former Dallas Cowboy football star Roger Staubach, now a real-estate developer active in Republican politics." But, on Election Day, Kirk was able to turn out the black community, as well.

In Dallas, the city manager is responsible for day-to-day business; Kirk's primary job was to preside over city council meetings, for which he was paid a nominal stipend. During his tenure, he continued working at Gardere & Wynne, but also pursued the sort of business-building he campaigned on. He was able to finalize a deal for a new stadium to house the city's professional basketball and hockey teams, an important win for the city's small-business owners. He also secured $543 million in funding for a revitalizing project near the flood-prone Trinity River. By 1999, the end of his first term, Kirk had helped create 40,000 jobs.

National Democratic Politics

Kirk easily won his 2001 reelection bid, but in 2001, as Phil Gramm (R-Texas) announced he was stepping down as senator, Kirk resigned as mayor in order to run for the seat, although not without some emotion.

"One of the last times I cried as an adult was the night before I resigned as mayor, because I loved being mayor, and I loved the privilege of being the face and voice of a dynamic city," he said later..

Running against Republican John Cornyn, Kirk faced an uphill climb. Former Texas governor and President George W. Bush had a cult-like status in the Lone Star State at the time, and Cornyn ran primarily on the premise that he would support the president and Kirk would not. Kirk, however, argued that he wasn't set against the former governor.

"I'm not here to go and do battle with the president,'' Kirk said. ''This election is not a referendum on George Bush -- there is not anybody in America that is unclear about where Texas stands in terms of its love and respect for George Bush."

The race grew surprisingly close: polls near the end showed a dead heat. But ultimately, Kirk lost, 43 to 55 percent.

After the failed bid, Kirk rejoined the private sector as a partner at the Dallas firm Vinson & Elkins. His worked for the firm included lobbying the Texas government for banking and energy clients.

Kirk kept his hand in national politics, however. In 2004, he put himself forward as a candidate for the DNC chairmanship that eventually went to Howard Dean.And in the 2008 election, he signed onto the Obama campaign as a bundler, raising more than $50,000 in total. In 2009, President Obama nominated him to serve as the U.S. Trade Representative.

The Issues

Since Kirk had little experience with or profile on trade issues, his nomination as U.S. Trade Representative initially called into question how much importance the Obama administration would place on trade. At the same time, Kirk's vocal support of free trade spooked labor groups.

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But during Kirk's tenure, his office has both furthered negotiations on free-trade agreements with partners like Colombia and South Korea and defended American interests through enforcement of trade standards.

American Jobs

During his time as USTR, Kirk has continued to promote free trade even as the 2008-2009 recession has driven up unemployment rates and created anxiety about American jobs. Kirk has dismissed the idea that trade is responsible for job loss. "For every job that is lost to trade," he told The Texas Monthly, "five are lost to increased productivity and innovation." And at a 2009 summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Group, he said, "When things are going well, we combine our skills and resources and our knowledge to bring products, services and prosperity to all of our economies. And when things are not going so well, we cannot forget that important synergy."

One of Kirk's initiatives to create American jobs through trade has focused on small and mid-size companies, few of which export their products. Kirk has commissioned reports on the issues and initiated an agency-wide effort to reach out to smaller businesses and work with them on marketing their products internationally.

Free-Trade Agreements

The Obama administration inherited a triad of in-progress trade agreements from the Bush administration. During Kirk's tenure, the administration has reached a final agreement with South Korea, which is worth the most. Kirk's work has helped contribute to an agreement that would be favorable to the U.S. auto industry.

Agreements with Colombia and Panama are also on the table, and in early 2011, Congressional Republicans were pushing to have the administration bring all three agreements as a package to the Hill. Kirk and the Obama administration have resisted bundling the agreements together.

China

The biggest trade issue that the U.S. has to face is its relationship with China. As mayor of Dallas, Kirk supported normalization of trade relations with China.

"Global trade has been very good for our local economies," he said to a Washington, D.C., panel in 2000. "We've seen expansion of our economies due to increased trade."

As USTR, Kirk has both advocated trade with China and favored enforcement of trade standards when necessary. He has said that the U.S. will use litigation, if necessary, to ensure that China is adhering to trade agreements, and his office has pushed for World Trade Organization consultations on and investigations into Chinese subsidies that the U.S. says are unfair. He has also worried about intellectual privacy policy in China.

Still, Kirk is often positive about the possibilities of trade with the country. "We are nowhere near a point of saying we should give up on China," Kirk has said.

The Network

A longtime politician and lobbyist in Texas, Kirk built his reputation working with Democrats like Sen. Lloyd Bensten and Gov. Ann Richards. He's also worked closely with Texas politicians while a lobbyist at law firms.

Prior to joining the administration, Kirk was on the board of Dean Foods with current Dean Foods CEO Gregg Engles and former Kinko's CEO Joseph Hardin Jr. He was also on the board of Petsmart Inc., along with the company's CEO Philip Francis and the former Borders Group Inc. CEO Gregory Josefowicz.

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Campaign Contributions

Kirk has donated over $29,000 since 2000, all going towards Democratic organizations or candidates. He has donated $6,300 to Barack Obama since 2004.

Additional Resources