Demetrios J. Marantis (born May 28, 1968) is an American lawyer, former senior government trade official, lobbyist and executive. He served as the acting

United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting Foreign trade of the United States, United States ...

(USTR) from March 15, 2013, until May 23, 2013. He served as the Deputy Trade Representative for four years under

Ron Kirk Ronald Kirk (born June 27, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Trade Representative from 2009 to 2013, as the 97th secretary of state of Texas, and as the 56th mayor of Dallas from 1995 to 2002. He is a me ...

, and became the acting Trade Representative when Kirk resigned in March 2013.

Early life and education

Marantis attended Harrison High School in

Harrison, New York Harrison is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town and Administrative divisions of New York (state), village in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York Cit ...

. He received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in public and international affairs from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

in 1990. He then attended the

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, where he received his

juris doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1993. Out of law school, Marantis joined the law firm of

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP (known as Akin Gump or Akin) is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. It is the second-largest lobbying firm in the United States by revenue. History The firm was founded in Dal ...

, working in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Public sector career

Marantis joined the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in 1998 as its associate general counsel. In 2002, Marantis joined the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council, living in

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

for two years, aiding

United States–Vietnam trade relations U.S. - Vietnam Trade Relations refer to the bilateral trade relationship between the United States of America (U.S.) and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Vietnam) from 1990s to 2012. After more than two decades of no economic relationship since ...

. He returned to the United States to work on

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

2004 presidential campaign This electoral calendar 2004 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2004 in the de jure and de facto list of sovereign states, sovereign states and their list of dependent territories, dependent territories. Referendums are included, ...

as an issue director for

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the vice presidential nominee under ...

, Kerry's running mate. Marantis worked for

United States Senate Committee on Finance The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

as the chief international trade counsel, starting in 2005. He aided

Max Baucus Maxwell Sieben Baucus ( Enke; born December 11, 1941) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the long ...

, the committee's chairman, negotiate an expansion of the

Trade Adjustment Assistance Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) is a federal program of the United States government to act as a way to reduce the damaging impact of imports felt by certain sectors of the U.S. economy. The current structure features four components of Trade Ad ...

, and helped secure passage of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. The ranking Republican member of the committee,

Charles Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Grassley is the s ...

, praised Marantis for his efforts. He was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in early 2009 to serve as the Deputy Trade Representative, in charge of negotiating trade pacts in Asia and Africa and negotiating with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

tariffs A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and is ...

and

copyright laws A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, e ...

Post-government career

Marantis founded and led the government relations team at Square (now

Block, Inc. Block, Inc. (formerly Square, Inc.) is an American technology company and a financial services provider for consumers and merchants. Founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey, it is the U.S. market leader in Point of sale, point-of-sale systems. As of 20 ...

) from 2013 to 2015. In October 2015, Marantis was appointed Senior Vice President for Global Government Relations at

Visa Inc. Visa Inc. () is an American multinational payment card services corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. It facilitates electronic funds transfers throughout the world, most commonly through Visa-branded credit cards, debit c ...

While at Visa, Marantis helped create the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute, spearheaded COVID relief of women-owned small and micro entrepreneurs, and urged governments around the world to prioritize digital trade with

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and other regions. In September 2021, Marantis joined

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational financial services, finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is List of largest banks in the United States, the largest ba ...

in September 2021 as Global Head of Corporate Responsibility.

Personal

Marantis lives in Washington D.C., with his husband, society hair stylist Christophe Jouenne. They were married in San Francisco in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marantis, Demetrois 1968 births 21st-century American politicians American people of Greek descent Harvard Law School alumni Living people Obama administration cabinet members People from Harrison, New York Place of birth missing (living people) United States trade representatives Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni JPMorgan Chase people LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ people from Washington, D.C.