The third edition of The Language of Trade contains a glossary of trade terminology, a list of acronyms used in international trade, and a chronology of major events in international trade since 1916. It updates, revises, and expands the second edition of The Language of Trade, which was published in 1993.

The third edition was prepared for the Department of State by Merritt R. Blakeslee and Carlos A. Garcia of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Washington, D.C.

The authors received assistance from the U.S. Departments of Commerce and the Treasury and from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, which they gratefully acknowledge.

This assistance notwithstanding, the definitions in this work are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not represent an official statement of the policy or practice of the U.S. government.

The authors also wish to express their gratitude to their colleagues at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP who provided invaluable expertise, research, assistance, and suggestions: Judith Lee, Eric Hinton, Terri LaBounty, Natalia Xanthakos, and Stephanie Hatch.

Merritt R. Blakeslee is an attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he is a member of the firm's International Trade and Customs Practice Group. His practice focuses on international claims, primarily claims for damages arising out of the Gulf War, and on international trade, including antidumping and countervailing duty litigation, economic sanctions regulations, and export control regulations. He practiced with the international and antitrust groups of the firm of Steptoe & Johnson LLP from 1991 until joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in 1997.

Mr. Blakeslee received a J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1991 from the University of Georgia School of Law. He also holds Ph.D. and M.A. degrees from Tulane University, the degree of licence-ès-lettres from the Université de Strasbourg (France), and a B.A. from the University of the South. Between 1981 and 1987, Mr. Blakeslee served on the faculties of Tulane University and the University of Georgia.

Mr. Blakeslee is a co-author, with Ambassador Michael B. Smith, of the second edition of The Language of Trade. He is a co-editor, with Monroe Leigh, of National Treaty Law and Practice, Vol. I: France, Germany, India, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Studies in Transnational Legal Policies No. 27, American Society of International Law, 1995; and, with Monroe Leigh and L. Benjamin Ederington, of National Treaty Law and Practice, Vol. II: Austria, Chile, Colombia, Japan, Netherlands, United States, Studies in Transnational Legal Policies No. 30, American Society of International Law, 1999. He has published articles on international and domestic law in the American Journal of International Law, the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, and the Georgia Law Review.

Carlos A. Garcia also is an attorney in the International Trade and Customs Practice Group of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP's Washington, D.C. office. His practice focuses on antidumping and countervailing duty matters, foreign market access, international corporate matters, Customs and NAFTA-related laws, U.S. export controls, and international trade litigation.

Upon graduating from Boston College Law School in 1994, Mr. Garcia joined the Office of the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce under the department's Honors Program. In the Office of the General Counsel, where he specialized in international trade law, Mr. Garcia provided legal counsel in connection with government-to-government trade negotiations, trade legislation, trade policy, international telecommunications issues, antidumping and countervailing duties investigations, and litigation before the Court of International Trade and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Mr. Garcia left the Commerce Department to join Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in 1998.

Mr. Garcia is the author of "Recent Scope Cases: Determining Whether Incomplete Merchandise Rises to the Level of Subject Merchandise," in The Commerce Department Speaks on International Trade and Investment (1998); and is the co-author with Stephen Powell, Chief Counsel for Import Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, of the "American Bar Association Section of International Law and Practice Report to the House of Delegates: Fast Track Negotiating Authority," 31 The International Lawyer 955-59 (1997).