President Donald Trump has now nominated a full slate of five candidates to (1) fill the three vacant seats on the US International Trade Commission (“ITC” or “Commission”), and (2) replace two sitting holdover commissioners whose terms have expired. If confirmed by the Senate, these nominees would restore the Commission to its full six-member complement for the first time since 2017, eliminating a potential quorum risk that has threatened the agency’s ability to carry out its statutory mission.
In January 2026, the president nominated two Republicans—David Foley Jr. and Brett Doyle—to the Commission. On June 1, 2026, he announced three additional nominees: Peter-Anthony Pappas (R), Bart Thanhauser (D) and Samuel Negatu (D). All five nominations have been referred to the Senate Finance Committee—the committee with jurisdiction over international trade policy and trade remedy laws—for consideration.
This alert provides background on the ITC’s current staffing challenges, discusses the approaching chairmanship rotation and profiles each of the five nominees.
I. The ITC and the Stakes of a Depleted Commission
Congress designed the ITC as an independent, nonpartisan, quasi-judicial agency. Under 19 U.S.C. § 1330, the Commission is composed of six commissioners appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for nine-year terms, with no more than three from any single political party.
The ITC plays a critical role in US trade enforcement. It conducts antidumping and countervailing duty injury investigations,1 administers safeguard proceedings2 and, under Section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, investigates and remedies unfair practices in the importation of goods—most commonly arising out of intellectual property (IP) infringement. Section 337’s principal remedy—an exclusion order enforced at the border by US Customs and Border Protection—operates with an immediacy and comprehensiveness that district court actions often cannot match.
The table below shows which specific seat each candidate has been nominated to fill, the associated term of service and who the candidate would replace if confirmed by the Senate:
| Seat | Current Occupant | Nominee | Term Expiring |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David S. Johanson (R) | Bart Thanhauser (D) | December 16, 2027 |
| 2 | Vacant | Samuel Negatu (D) | June 16, 2029 |
| 3 | Vacant | Brett Doyle (R) | December 16, 2030 |
| 4 | Amy A. Karpel (D) | David Foley Jr. (R) | June 16, 2032 |
| 5 | Jason E. Kearns (D) | N/A | December 16, 2024 (expired) |
| 6 | Vacant | Peter-Anthony Pappas (R) | June 16, 2035 |
As noted, the three sitting commissioners—Chair Amy Karpel (D), David Johanson (R) and Jason Kearns (D)—are all serving in holdover status, their terms having already expired.
It could be argued that a complement of three sitting commissioners constitutes the bare quorum required for the Commission to act. This is not merely a theoretical concern. Recusals are routine in ITC practice, and respondents have already attempted to exploit the depleted bench to prevent the Commission from reaching decisions. In Certain Video Capable Electronic Devices (Inv. No. 337-TA-1380), for example, a respondent argued that two commissioners could not constitute a quorum sufficient to issue a final determination. Legal scholars have urged litigants to challenge the quorum of potentially “inquorate” agencies,3 and the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards has listed the ITC as an agency that “currently lacks a quorum.”4
II. The Nominees
1. David Foley Jr. (R) - Nominated to Replace Chair Amy Karpel (D) for a Term Expiring June 16, 2032
David Foley Jr. currently serves as senior special counsel on the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, AI, and the Internet. He also serves as an acquisition law attorney and a captain in the US Air Force Reserve.
Foley Jr. holds a BS in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology (2004) and a JD cum laude from Cornell University Law School (2007).
2. Brett Doyle (R) - Nominated for Vacant Seat With a Term Expiring December 16, 2030
Brett Doyle currently serves as assistant US trade representative for congressional affairs at the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), a position he has held since January 2025.
Doyle previously served as senior director at the USTR during the first Trump Administration (2017–2018) and as associate administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (2020). On Capitol Hill, he served as a legislative assistant and policy analyst for Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and the Senate Republican Policy Committee and as senior advisor on the COVID-19 Congressional Oversight Commission. Between government stints, Doyle served as managing director of outreach at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and director of government relations at Sylvamo.
Doyle holds a BA in history from Lafayette College and a graduate diploma from the US Naval War College.
3. Peter-Anthony Pappas (R) - Nominated for Vacant Seat With a Term Expiring June 16, 2026, Followed by a Full Term Expiring June 16, 2035
Peter-Anthony Pappas currently serves as director of IP policy for the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary under Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), chair of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. Before joining the Senate, he served as special advisor to US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Andrei Iancu. He has also served as Patent Trial and Appeal Board branch chief, supervisory patent examiner, primary patent examiner and patent examiner at the USPTO.
Pappas holds a BS in computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School.
4. Bart Thanhauser (D) - Nominated to Replace David Johanson (R) for a Term Expiring December 16, 2027
Bart Thanhauser currently serves at the USTR as deputy assistant US trade representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, where he develops and implements US trade policy toward the region, including efforts to strengthen critical mineral and clean energy supply chains.
Thanhauser previously served as senior policy advisor to the deputy US trade representative, advising on trade with Asia, Africa, supply chains, digital trade and industrial competitiveness. In 2025, he served as a legislative fellow and trade advisor in the office of Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV). He began his career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Indonesia.
Thanhauser holds a BA in political science and government from Cornell University and an MA in international economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.
5. Samuel Negatu (D) - Nominated for Vacant Seat With a Term Expiring June 16, 2029
Samuel Negatu currently serves as director of government affairs at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), where he leads advocacy on issues including autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, privacy and digital trade on behalf of the $351 billion US consumer technology industry.
Prior to joining CTA, Negatu served as director of congressional affairs at the USTR during the Biden Administration. On Capitol Hill, he served as legislative director for Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), where he was a staff negotiator for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement working group, addressing labor issues in negotiations between the USTR and House Democrats. Before that, he spent four years in the office of Representative Matt Cartwright (D-PA).
Negatu holds a BA in political science from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2011) and a JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (2014).
III. The Approaching Chairmanship Rotation
The nominations also raise an important question about the Commission’s leadership. Karpel’s chairmanship term expires on June 16, 2026. Under the ITC’s governing statute, the chairmanship rotates on a fixed two-year cycle and each new term triggers specific statutory requirements that will directly affect the confirmation process for these nominees.
Under 19 U.S.C. § 1330(c)(3)(A), the next chair must be of a different political party than the incumbent chair. Because Chair Karpel is a Democrat, the statute requires that the next chair be a Republican. Because Commissioner Johanson is the only sitting Republican commissioner, and it appears extremely unlikely (if not impossible) that any of the new Republican nominees will have been confirmed by the time the rotation of the chairmanship occurs, this suggests that Commissioner Johanson will become the next ITC chair on June 17, 2026.
The question then becomes what happens to the chairmanship position if Mr. Thanhauser is confirmed to Commissioner Johanson’s seat before the expiration of Commissioner Johanson’s expected two-year term as chair? Under 19 U.S.C. § 1330(c)(3)(C), the president may designate as chair any commissioner who has served as a commissioner for less than one year in the event that the current chair does not complete their term due to “removal from office as a commissioner, or expiration of his term of office as a commissioner.” Thus, if the nominee for Commissioner Johanson’s seat is confirmed before the expiration of his term as chair, the president may designate one of the new Republican commissioners as chair to serve the remainder of the two-year term.5
Notably, none of the Republican nomination announcements indicate that any candidate is being put forward as chair. It is therefore unclear at this time which of the three Republicans would be the next chair of the Commission if all are confirmed before the end of the two-year chairmanship term that begins later this month.
If no chair is immediately designated by the president once the nominees are confirmed, the statute provides a fallback: The Republican commissioner with the longest period of continuous service would serve as chair by operation of law. 19 U.S.C. § 1330(c)(1)(B). This means that the chairmanship would go to the new Republican commissioner who was sworn in first after being confirmed, with the possibility that the president could designate a different Republican commissioner at some later date. The prospect of two or even three different ITC chairs serving in rapid succession introduces significant uncertainty for parties with matters before the Commission. Each new chair may bring different administrative priorities, procedural preferences and strategic emphasis, creating the potential for disruption to ongoing proceedings and delays as the Commission recalibrates under new leadership.
IV. What This Means for ITC Stakeholders
The confirmation of all five nominees would have several important implications for parties with business before the Commission:
- Elimination of Quorum Risk. A six-member Commission would end this vulnerability that had the potential to prevent the Commission from reaching decisions. With a full bench, a recusal by one commissioner in any given investigation would leave five commissioners participating in that investigation, which is still a comfortable margin above what could be argued is the quorum threshold.
- Strengthened IP Enforcement. Multiple nominees bring IP backgrounds. Their confirmation could signal heightened attention to Section 337 proceedings, consistent with the administration’s emphasis on IP enforcement.
- Bipartisan Balance Restored. A full bench of commissioners would restore the bipartisan equilibrium Congress intended, potentially enhancing the institutional credibility of the agency’s quasi-judicial determinations in trade remedy and Section 337 matters.
- New Leadership. The chairmanship rotation on June 16 will bring Republican leadership to the Commission. The identity of the new chair could shape the Commission’s priorities going forward.
- Confirmation Timeline. The nominations must be reported by the Senate Finance Committee—typically after a hearing where the nominees are questioned—and confirmed by the full Senate. Our understanding is that a hearing before the Senate Finance Committee is expected before the end of this month, with a vote by the full Senate before the August recess. Companies with pending or contemplated ITC matters should monitor the confirmation timeline closely, as the composition and leadership of the Commission can affect the outcome and pace of proceedings.
These nominations are a welcome step, as a full bench of commissioners is essential not only to the administration’s stated trade enforcement agenda but also to the interests of all parties—complainants and respondents alike—who rely on the ITC as a credible, independent forum for the resolution of trade disputes.
WilmerHale will continue to monitor the confirmation process and any developments regarding the nominees’ hearing before the Senate Finance Committee as well as the resolution of the chairmanship question.
