From Just Style:
As part of its first major reorganization in more than 30 years, the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA) has consolidated its four business divisions into three units.
The new units are Global Markets, Industry and Analysis, and Enforcement and Compliance.
Global Markets combines ITA’s country and regional experts, overseas and domestic field staff, and specific trade promotion programmes.
The Industry and Analysis (I&A) unit brings together ITA’s industry, trade, and economic experts to help US industries develop and execute international trade and investment policies to increase exports.
And the Enforcement and Compliance unit helps enforce US trade laws and ensure compliance with trade agreements.
The Office of Textiles & Apparel (OTEXA), which oversees apparel and textile trade, supervises the implementation of all textile trade agreements, formulates trade policy, performs research and analysis, compiles industry data, and promotes US trade events, is now part of the new Industry & Analysis division. Key staffs at the OTEXA and their responsibilities can be found HERE.
“Just as companies must change and adapt to ensure they provide cost-effective, high-quality products and services that meet the demands of their clients, so too must government agencies adapt to continuously improve their performance and make the best use of scarce public funds,” explained Francisco Sánchez, undersecretary for international trade.”
FASH455 Global Apparel & Textile Trade and Sourcing 
The International Trade Administration is smart to consolidate its four business divisions into three units because this merger will help to better align key functions that support U.S. businesses and their worker efficiency. Reflecting ITA’s adaption to the evolution of global markets, technology and competition, the new business divisions are classified as Global Markets, Industry and Analysis, and Enforcement and Compliance.
The Global Markets unit is put in place to promote the U.S. as an investment destination, provide U.S. firms with specific export services, and claim market access advocacy for the U.S. And with the combination of ITA’s country and regional experts, overseas and domestic field staff, and specific trade promotion programs, I believe the new unit will be able to provide for the U.S.
The Industry and Analysis unit, along with ITA’s industry, trade, and economic experts, will be able to advance the competitiveness of U.S. industries through the development and execution of international trade, investment policies, and promotion strategies. The relationships with manufacturing and service industries already established within the ITA may influence an increase of U.S. exports.
The Enforcement and Compliance unit is set to enhance the responsibility of ITA to enforce U.S. trade laws and ensure compliance with trade agreements (only on behalf of the U.S. industry).
With the reformation of the ITA, American businesses inherit the opportunity to win globally. Not only will the consolidation of business divisions enable ITA to improve operations and delivery of services to American companies, but the reorganization also promotes trade and investment, strengthens the competitiveness of the U.S. industry, and ensures fair trade even through the tedious enforcement of practicing trade laws and agreements. The ITA strives to advance the global business environment, especially in terms of U.S. organizations abroad, which will sustain economic growth and support the employment of American workers.
Changing the International Trade Administration seems like a good move. The last quote in the post says it best; as the industry changes, so must government agencies relating to it. Having the same set of standards and organization since the start of ITA, would just not work. International trade is continuously increasing and making the world “smaller.” With all the forms of communication worldwide (social media, travel, imports/exports, sourcing, relocation for work or school, ect.) the world is rapidly changing, forcing policies and agency organizations to change with it. World trade is a messy, tangled, web getting more and more complex by the minute. Seeing that this reorganization was the first for the ITA in over 30 years was therefore surprising. I would expect the ITA to change more to suit the increasingly diversified needs of global trade. It will be interesting to see how this reorganization works and how the administration changes in the future to better suit increasing globalization.
After reading my classmates comments, I agree with martarose11. In particular I agree that the last quote in the post says it the best; as the industry changes, so must government agencies relating to it. If this were not to happen I believe that the government and the agencies would all start to go downhill and that there would be a lot of outrage and protesting in regards to the issue. As well as outrage there would be lack of appropriate communication and people would not be on the same page causing more and larger problems that already exist.
I think it is a good thing that the ITA has decided to make some changes. As states above, the ITA has not changed its policies in 30 years. This seems very shocking to me, as this industry changes so much every single day. Consolidating seems to make the Administration more organized and streamlined. International trade is so important to a successful economy, and as a major world power the United States should have a very tight grip on our major trade policies and procedures. The reorganization of the ITA will help to ensure that our international trade be very successful and helpful to our worlds globalization.
The explanation from the undersecretary of international trade, Francisco Sanchez, explains it all when saying: “Just as companies must change and adapt to ensure they provide cost-effective, high-quality products and services that meet the demands of their clients, so too must government agencies adapt to continuously improve their performance and make the best use of scarce public funds,”.
I think that changing the international trade administration would be nothing but a good idea because international trade is constantly changing and making the world different in many aspects. The world is changing for many different reasons one of those being because of the media and all of its influences. I believe that if this did not change then their would be a big outbreak with the general population which would cause more problems then need be. I agree with my classmates when they say that international trade is such an important factor of our economy and because of the the United States should be very involved and have a huge say in the decisions made on the trade policies.
– Ravyne
You know, I think what the ITA is a smart move. I think so because, as each year has gone by in this new millennium, there has been a new invented or the birth of something great. As businesses grasp that everything is connected by a blink of an eye, so coming together into three. Through technology we can learn about other cultures and with that produce better trade legislations that will benefit the US and other countries.