Youqing Ma will arrive in September as the Commercial Counselor at the United States Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. She will represent the U.S. Department of Commerce to promote U.S.-Ukraine trade and investment relations.
Youqing is currently concluding her tour in Lisbon, Portugal. As part of the Mission Portugal leadership, Youqing works closely with Portuguese policymakers, businesses, and stakeholders to advance U.S. national interests and bilateral commercial ties.
Across assignments spanning Europe, Asia, the Department of Commerce headquarters, and the domestic field, Youqing has consistently advanced U.S. priorities and strengthened American industries worldwide. In Portugal, she has led her team in facilitating billions in U.S. exports of goods and services and in assisting Portuguese companies with their U.S. investment ventures. In Japan, she guided efforts to promote U.S. services and technology exports and addressed trade barrier issues for American businesses; she focused on expanding U.S.-Japan collaboration on trusted vendors to strengthen the dual-use technology control framework. At the Department of Commerce headquarters, she developed strategies to attract greenfield foreign investment, implemented the U.S.-India Tourism MOU, and led outreach partnerships for the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council. Serving at the American Institute in Taiwan, she managed key sectors, including semiconductors, while sharpening her expertise in supply chain resilience and Taiwan Strait geopolitics.
Before joining the federal government as a U.S. diplomat, Youqing worked on transpacific trade relations for the City of Los Angeles and the State of Oregon. She is a proud mother of two rising college juniors attending universities in Virginia.