William Zarit is Minister for Commercial Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, overseeing the U.S. Department of Commerce’s trade promotion and trade policy activities in its operations in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Shenyang. Mr. Zarit is one of only three serving Foreign Commercial Service officers worldwide to have attained the rank of Career Minister .

Prior to his posting to Beijing, Mr. Zarit was Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Operations, for the U.S. Commercial Service, overseeing Commercial Sections in U.S. Embassies and Consulates worldwide. The U.S. Commercial Service is the federal government’s front line trade agency, promoting both U.S. exports and foreign investment into the U.S., and protecting U.S. commercial interests overseas. Prior to that Mr. Zarit served as the U.S. Commercial Service’s Regional Director for East Asia/Pacific.

Mr. Zarit previously served as Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the American Institute in Taiwan.

Before joining the U.S. Commercial Service Mr. Zarit was Economic and Commercial Program Officer for the New York-based National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Prior to that he served as Marketing Manager/China for the California-based telecommunications firm Pacific Telesis International, preceded by his work as Project Manager for the high-tech marketing firm China Business Associates, both positions based in Beijing. Mr. Zarit also served as Mandarin Chinese Interpreter for State Department Language Services.