Damian Felton

Mr. Damian Felton joined The Cohen Group in January 2022 after 16 years with the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration where he held multiple senior-level positions leading teams focused on international trade policy and export promotion. He also previously worked as an auditor in both the public and private sectors and is a certified public accountant.

For over seven years and across two postings (2017–2021 and 2009–2011) he served at the US embassy in Beijing, China, where he advised business executives and senior embassy leadership on complex and consequential tariff proceedings administered by both the United States and China. Mr. Felton also provided strategies for preserving market access by obtaining preferred outcomes in China’s trade remedy proceedings, and counseled companies on how to successfully navigate and compete against structural impediments posed by China’s state directed economy. At the embassy, Mr. Felton led a team that conducted in-depth research on market distortions caused by China’s government interventions through industrial policies and subsidy programs.

Mr. Felton worked as a senior analyst for the Commerce Department in Washington, DC, where he focused on countervailing duty investigations of subsidized imports from China; specifically examining the benefits received by Chinese companies through government policy lending, grants, government provisions of goods and services for less-than-adequate remuneration, and tax subsidy programs. He also frequently led US delegations to China to conduct detailed verifications of the financial and accounting records submitted by Chinese companies and Chinese government agencies.

Mr. Felton was detailed to the Commerce Department’s 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariff exclusion request review team where he evaluated tariff exclusion requests and briefed high-level decision makers on approval/denial recommendations. For another domestic assignment, Mr. Felton led the Commerce Department's office in Wisconsin responsible for providing small and medium-sized businesses with consultative, strategic guidance on international trade business development and risk mitigation. This included advising firms on foreign market selection, entry/expansion strategies, and preferred channel partner selection techniques, as well as guidance on key US export and foreign import laws/regulations.

Mr. Felton began his career as an auditor, working for the Department of Defense’s Office of the Inspector General, and the accounting firms of Ernst & Young and Mayer Hoffman McCann. He is a certified public accountant, received his BS in accounting from the University of Alabama, and was selected by the Commerce Department to study at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government to complete an executive education program for the Practice of Trade Policy. He is married and has three elementary school-aged children.