Val Huston

Mr. Val Huston is the Principal Commercial Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, leading a team of dedicated trade professionals increase commercial ties between the U.S. and China. Conducting U.S. commercial diplomacy to increase U.S. product and service exports to China includes: helping U.S. companies find market opportunities and Chinese trading partners; assisting Chinese firms find investment opportunities in the United States; promoting U.S. education and tourism opportunities; and advocating for U.S. national economic and trade interests

Previously serving as the Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium (2008-2012), Mr. Huston managed this unique trade policy post covering the European Union and its 27 member states and engaged EU institutions in advancing transatlantic commercial relations by identifying new commercial opportunities and removing obstacles to trade. For example, he fostered close transatlantic cooperation in green technologies such as electric vehicles, smart grids and energy efficiency and played a leading role in the formulation and launch of the Transatlantic Economic Council’s e-mobility work program.

Mr. Huston joined the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA)in January 1993. During his six-year tenure at ITA headquarters in Washington, D.C., he worked on the Korea Desk, in the Assignments Office, and as the Associate Director for International Operations for Southeast Asia. From 1999-2002, Mr. Huston served abroad as a commercial officer in Manila, the Philippines, where he managed the U.S.- Asia Environmental Partnership Program-- a program jointly funded by USDOC and USAID.

From 2002-2004, Mr. Huston served in the U.S. Export Assistance Center in Indianapolis, and assisted Indiana exporters to enter and expand their markets around the world, especially to the NAFTA countries of Canada and Mexico. From 2004-2008, he served as a commercial officer in Beijing, China and was responsible for the environment, energy and energy efficiency, construction, engineering, and transportation sectors. During his tenure in Beijing, he supported ten Secretary of Commerce visits and/or trade missions and six Governor-led trade missions. In the 1980s, he served six years in the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Power Program. Mr. Huston holds a MA from George Mason University and a BA from Old Dominion University. He is married to Juliana Zhuang from Shanghai, China, and they have three children.