 Seal of the U.S. Department of Commerce | |
 Flag of the U.S. Department of Commerce | |
 | |
 TheHerbert C. Hoover Building, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Commerce | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | February 14, 1903; 122 years ago (1903-02-14) |
| Preceding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | U.S. federal government |
| Headquarters | Herbert C. Hoover Building 1401Constitution AvenueNW Washington, D.C., U.S. 38°53′39″N77°0′58″W / 38.89417°N 77.01611°W /38.89417; -77.01611 |
| Employees | 48,391 (2024)[1] |
| Agency executives | |
| Website | commerce.gov |
| Footnotes | |
TheUnited States Department of Commerce (DOC) is anexecutive department of theU.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing economic development, promoting foreign direct investment, and safeguarding national economic security.
The Department of Commerce is one of four federal agencies authorized to appoint personnel in theUnited States Foreign Service, and itsNOAA Corps — formerly the Coast and Geodetic Survey Corps — is one of the eight branches of theuniformed services of the United States. During a large-scale disaster or catastrophe, it assumes the coordinating responsibilities for the economic recovery support function under thenational disaster recovery framework. Since 2023, it has led U.S. government activities related to safeartificial intelligence development and, from 1913 to 1939, it managed theNational Aquarium.
The department is headed by thesecretary of commerce, who is a member of the president'sCabinet and tenth in theUnited States presidential line of succession. It is headquartered in theHerbert C. Hoover Building inWashington, D.C.
The Department of Commerce renewed its mission statement in its 2022 to 2026 strategic plan:
The Department of Commerce’s mission is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all communities.[1]
The responsibilities of its major operating units include weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and fisheries management (NOAA); promoting U.S. exports and attractingforeign direct investment (International Trade Administration); producing the decennial census and other vital and economic statistics (Bureau of the Census); regulating the export of sensitive technologies (Bureau of Industry and Security); registering patents, trademarks, and copyrights (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office); managing and preserving theUnited States customary system of weights and measures (National Institute of Standards and Technology); maintaining the national interoperable broadband emergency network (FirstNet Authority); and coordinating economic recovery following a major disaster (Economic Development Administration).[1]
The department was originally created as theUnited States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903. It was subsequently renamed the Department of Commerce on March 4, 1913, as the bureaus and agencies specializing in labor were transferred to the newDepartment of Labor.[2]
Since its creation, the Commerce Department has seen various agencies and administrative offices shift in and out of its organizational structure. TheUnited States Patent and Trademark Office was transferred from theInterior Department into the Commerce Department in 1925.[3] The Federal Employment Stabilization Office existed within the department from 1931 to 1939. In 1940, the Weather Bureau (now theNational Weather Service) was transferred from theAgriculture Department, and theCivil Aeronautics Authority was also merged into the Commerce Department.[4] In 1949, thePublic Roads Administration was added to the department after theFederal Works Agency was dismantled.[2]
In 1958, the independentFederal Aviation Agency was created and the Civil Aeronautics Authority was abolished. TheUnited States Travel Service was established by theUnited States Secretary of Commerce on July 1, 1961, pursuant to theInternational Travel Act of 1961 (75 Stat. 129; 22 U.S.C. 2121 note)[5] TheEconomic Development Administration was created in 1965. In 1966, the Bureau of Public Roads was transferred to the newly created Department of Transportation. TheMinority Business Development Agency (MBDA) was created on March 5, 1969, originally established by President Richard M. Nixon as the Office of Minority Business Enterprise.TheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was created on October 3, 1970.[2]
TheCabinet Council on Commerce and Trade was one of multiple Cabinet Councils established in theUnited States on or about February 26, 1981 by theReagan Administration.[6]
In 2020, the Department of Commercesuffered a data breach following acyberattack likely conducted by anation state adversary, possibly Russia.[7][8]
Herbert Hoover was appointed Secretary of Commerce in 1921 by then-PresidentWarren G. Harding.[9] Hoover was, by far, the most active secretary in the history of the department until the end of his position in 1928.[10]
After his election as president in 1920, Warren G. Harding rewarded Hoover for his support, offering to appoint him as eitherSecretary of the Interior orSecretary of Commerce. Secretary of Commerce was considered a minor Cabinet post, with limited and vaguely defined responsibilities, but Hoover, emphasizing his identity as a businessman, accepted the position. In sharp contrast to the Interior Department, there were no scandals at Commerce.[11]
Hoover envisioned the Commerce Department as the hub of the nation's growth and stability.[12] His experience mobilizing the war-time economy convinced him that the federal government could promote efficiency by eliminating waste, increasing production, encouraging the adoption of data-based practices, investing in infrastructure, and conserving natural resources. Contemporaries described Hoover's approach as a "third alternative" between "unrestrained capitalism" and socialism, which was becoming increasingly popular in Europe.[13] Hoover sought to foster a balance among labor, capital, and the government, and for this he has been variously labeled a "corporatist" or anassociationalist.[14]
Hoover demanded, and received, authority to coordinate economic affairs throughout the government. He created many sub-departments and committees, overseeing and regulating everything from manufacturing statistics to air travel. In some instances he "seized" control of responsibilities from other Cabinet departments when he deemed that they were not carrying out their responsibilities well; some began referring to him as the "Secretary of Commerce and Under-Secretary of all other departments".[12] In response to theDepression of 1920–21, he convinced Harding to assemble a presidential commission on unemployment, which encouraged local governments to engage in countercyclical infrastructure spending. He endorsed much of Mellon's tax reduction program, but favored a moreprogressive tax system and opposed the treasury secretary's efforts to eliminate theestate tax.[15]
When Hoover joined the department, almost no families had radios; when he became president in 1929, 10 million owned one, and most of the rest listened in a nearby home, store or restaurant. Hoover's department set the policies that shaped the entire new industry. Hoover's radio conferences played a key role in the organization, development, and regulation of radio broadcasting. Hoover also helped pass theRadio Act of 1927, which allowed the government to intervene and abolish radio stations that were deemed "non-useful" to the public. Hoover's attempts at regulating radio were not supported by all congressmen, and he received much opposition from the Senate and from radio station owners.[16][17][18]
Hoover was also influential in the early development of air travel, and he sought to create a thriving private industry boosted by indirect government subsidies. He encouraged the development of emergency landing fields, required all runways to be equipped with lights and radio beams, and encouraged farmers to make use of planes forcrop dusting.[19] He also established the federal government's power to inspect planes and license pilots, setting a precedent for the laterFederal Aviation Administration.[20]
As Commerce Secretary, Hoover hosted national conferences on street traffic collectively known as the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety. Hoover's chief objective was to address the growing casualty toll of traffic accidents, but the scope of the conferences grew and soon embraced motor vehicle standards, rules of the road, and urban traffic control. He left the invited interest groups to negotiate agreements among themselves, which were then presented for adoption by states and localities. Because automotive trade associations were the best organized, many of the positions taken by the conferences reflected their interests. The conferences issued a model Uniform Vehicle Code for adoption by the states, and a Model Municipal Traffic Ordinance for adoption by cities. Both were widely influential, promoting greater uniformity between jurisdictions and tending to promote the automobile's priority in city streets.[21]
With the goal of encouraging wise business investments, Hoover made the Commerce Department a clearinghouse of information. He recruited numerous academics from various fields and tasked them with publishing reports on different aspects of the economy, including steel production and films. To eliminate waste, he encouraged the standardization of products like automobile tires and baby bottle nipples.[22][page needed] Other efforts at eliminating waste included reducing labor losses from trade disputes and seasonal fluctuations, reducing industrial losses from accident and injury, and reducing the amount of crude oil spilled during extraction and shipping. He promoted international trade by opening overseas offices to advise businessmen. Hoover was especially eager to promote Hollywood films overseas.[23]
His "Own Your Own Home" campaign was a collaboration to promote ownership of single-family dwellings, with groups such as the Better Houses in America movement, the Architects' Small House Service Bureau, and the Home Modernizing Bureau. He worked with bankers and thesavings and loan industry to promote the new long-term home mortgage, which dramatically stimulated home construction.[24] Other accomplishments included winning the agreement ofU.S. Steel to adopt an eight-hour workday, and the fostering of theColorado River Compact, a water rights compact among Southwestern states.[25]
The department has always been involved in promoting international non-financial business.[26] It stations commercial attachés at embassies around the world.[27] Currently, the key sub-agencies are theInternational Trade Administration, and theBureau of Industry and Security. The ITA provides technical expertise to numerous American companies, helping them adjust to foreign specifications. It provides guidance and marketing data as well. TheOffice of Export Enforcement administers export controls, especially regarding the spread of nuclear technology and highly advanced electronic technology.[28] Under the administration of PresidentDonald Trump, the policy has been to restrict high-technology flows to China. From 1949 to 1994, the department worked with the 17-nation Coordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls, which restricted technological flows to the Soviet Union and other communist nations. Since 1980, the Commerce Department works to neutralize the dumping of exports or the subsidies of overseas production. Along with the export controls, this work continues to generate friction with other nations.[29] On July 20, 2020, the commerce department announced adding eleven Chinese firms to an export blacklist for committing human rights abuse againstUyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities inXinjiang by conducting genetic analysis on them. Two of the firms sanctioned were subsidiaries of BGI Group, a Chinese genetic sequencing, and biomedical firm.[30] In the same year October, theBGI Group firm was again named in the alleged exploitation of medical samples of patients testing for Covid-19 in Nevada using the 200,000 rapid testing kits donated by theUnited Arab Emirates under its AI and cloud computing firm,Group 42. The Emirati firm, also known as G42, has previously been named in themass surveillance of people via an instant messaging application called ToTok, which was actually a spy application snooping on user data.[31]
Department of Commerce facilities in theWashington metropolitan areaThe Department of Commerce was initially headquartered in the Willard Building at 513-515 14th Street (not to be confused with the Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue). This site is now occupied by the Hotel Washington, completed in 1918. Between 1913 and 1932, the department was located in the Commerce Building at 19th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. In 1932, following completion of construction of the Herbert Hoover Building, the department relocated to the new facility, where it remains as of 2025.[32][33]
The department is headed by the Secretary of Commerce, a member of the president's cabinet and the tenth in line to succession to the U.S. presidency. In the event of the death, resignation, vacancy, or incapacity of the secretary, the following officials succeed to the office of secretary on an acting basis until the president appoints another person as acting secretary, or the vacancy is remedied through a permanent appointment by the president with theadvice and consent of theUnited States Senate:[34]
Proposals to reorganize the department go back many decades.[35] The Department of Commerce was one of three departments that Texas governorRick Perryadvocated eliminating during his2012 presidential campaign, along with theDepartment of Education andDepartment of Energy. Perry's campaign cited the frequency with which agencies had historically been moved into and out of the department and its lack of a coherent focus, and advocated moving its vital programs into other departments such as theDepartment of the Interior,Department of Labor, andDepartment of the Treasury. TheEconomic Development Administration would be completely eliminated.[36]
On January 13, 2012, PresidentBarack Obama announced his intentions to ask the United States Congress for the power to close the department and replace it with a new cabinet-level agency focused on trade and exports. The new agency would include theOffice of the United States Trade Representative, currently part of theExecutive Office of the President, as well as theExport-Import Bank of the United States, theOverseas Private Investment Corporation, theUnited States Trade and Development Agency, and theSmall Business Administration, which are all currentlyindependent agencies. The Obama administration projected that the reorganization would save $3 billion and would help the administration's goal of doubling U.S. exports in five years.[37] The new agency would be organized around four "pillars": a technology and innovation office including theUnited States Patent and Trademark Office and theNational Institute of Standards and Technology; a statistical division including theUnited States Census Bureau and other data-collection agencies currently in the Commerce Department, and also theBureau of Labor Statistics which would be transferred from the Department of Labor; a trade and investment policy office; and a small business development office. TheNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would be transferred from the Department of Commerce into the Department of the Interior.[38] Later that year, shortly before the 2012 presidential election, Obama invoked the idea of a "secretary of business" in reference to the plan.[39] The reorganization was part of a larger proposal which would grant the president the authority to propose mergers of federal agencies, which would then be subject to an up-or-down Congressional vote. This ability had existed from the Great Depression until the Reagan presidency, when Congress rescinded the authority.[40]
The Obama administration plan faced criticism for some of its elements. Some Congress members expressed concern that the Office of the United States Trade Representative would lose focus if it were included in a larger bureaucracy, especially given its status as an "honest broker" between other agencies, which tend to advocate for specific points of view.[37][41] The overall plan has also been criticized as an attempt to create an agency similar to Japan's powerfulMinistry of International Trade and Industry, which was abolished in 2001 after some of its initiatives failed and it became seen as a hindrance to growth.[41] NOAA's climate and terrestrial operations and fisheries and endangered species programs would be expected to integrate well with agencies already in the Interior Department, such as theUnited States Geological Survey and theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service. However, environmental groups such as theNatural Resources Defense Council feared that the reorganization could distract the agency from its mission of protecting the nation's oceans and ecosystems.[42] The plan was reiterated in the Obama administration'sFY2016 budget proposal that was released in February 2015.[43]
