In the picture left to right: Morgan Williams, President, USUUBC; Martin Claessens, Senior Commercial Officer, U.S. Embassy in Kyiv (Dec 2017 – June 2019); Mike Lally, DAS of Commerce for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

Martin Claessens joined the U.S. Embassy team in Kyiv in December 2017. Before that, he managed an office of 11 trade professionals at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, Colombia where he and his team assisted U.S. companies with market access and trade promotion in Colombia and in the Andean region.

For three years prior to Colombia, Martin managed a team of 12 in Mumbai, India, attracting major investments to the United States and helping U.S. companies land multi-billion dollar export contracts. Prior to India, Martin helped Chicago-area companies with their export strategies. Before joining the Commercial Service, Martin worked at the World Trade Organization as an Economic Affairs Officer, training developing countries on the WTO agreements. Martin also taught trade policy courses in Spanish and helped national governments revise their trade legislation in Colombia, Ecuador, Jordan, Mongolia, Peru, and Zambia.

From 2001 to 2008, Martin worked in the Import Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. As an International Trade Analyst conducting anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations, Martin traveled to a wide range of countries to do on-site investigations of foreign companies. Subsequently, he served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations and as Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Import Administration. In these capacities, Martin advised the Deputy and Assistant Secretary on all aspects of trade policy.  Before joining Commerce, Martin was a Legal Assistant at O’Melveny & Myers, assisting attorneys in the defense of foreign companies involved in international trade disputes in front of Import Administration and at the Court of International Trade.

Martin attended The George Washington University, graduating with a B.A. in International Affairs, a concentration in International Economics, and a minor in Spanish.  He also studied at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid. Martin is fluent in Spanish and speaks conversational French. He is a lifetime percussionist and avid scuba diver.