Background and career
Jon Meade Huntsman Jr. (born March 26, 1960) is an American politician, businessman, and diplomat who served as the 16th governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009. Huntsman is a member of the Republican Party. Huntsman has served three times as an ambassador of the United States: 1992–1993 as ambassador to Singapore, 2009–2011 as ambassador to China, and 2017–2019 as ambassador to Russia. Huntsman served in every presidential administration from the presidency of Ronald Reagan to the first Donald Trump administration. He began his career as a White House staff assistant for Ronald Reagan, and was appointed deputy assistant secretary of commerce and U.S. ambassador to Singapore by George H. W. Bush. Later as deputy U.S. trade representative under George W. Bush, he launched global trade negotiations in Doha in 2001 and guided the accession of China into the World Trade Organization. He was CEO of Huntsman Family Holdings, a private entity which held the family's stock in Huntsman Corporation. He was a board member of Huntsman Corporation, and chaired the Huntsman Cancer Foundation. Huntsman is the only American ambassador to have served in both Russia and China, having been the U.S. ambassador to China under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2011 and as the U.S. ambassador to Russia under Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. While governor of Utah, Huntsman was named chair of the Western Governors Association and joined the executive committee of the National Governors Association. Under his leadership, Utah was named the best-managed state in America by the Pew Center on the States. During his tenure, Huntsman was one of the most popular governors in the country, and won reelection in a landslide in 2008, winning every single county. He left office with approval ratings over 80 percent and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He ran for governor again in 2020, but narrowly lost in the Republican primary to Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox. Huntsman is a No Labels National Co-chair, and in July 2023, appeared with US senator Joe Manchin as headliners for a No Labels Common Sense Agenda Town Hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. Huntsman is a member of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, but in April 2025 he was dismissed along with the entire board by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Jon Meade Huntsman Jr. was born on March 26, 1960. His father, Jon Huntsman Sr., was a business executive who later became a billionaire through the company he founded, the Huntsman Corporation, which achieved breakthrough success in the 1970s manufacturing generic styrofoam cartons for McDonald's and other fast food companies and by the 1990s was one of the largest petrochemical companies in the United States. His mother is Karen (née Haight) Huntsman, daughter of David B. Haight, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Through his father, Huntsman is the great-great-great-grandson of early LDS Church leader Parley P. Pratt. In 1975, Huntsman earned the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank of the Boy Scouts of America. He attended Highland High School in Salt Lake City but dropped out before graduating to perform as a keyboard player in a rock band. He later obtained a G.E.D. and enrolled at the University of Utah, where he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity like his father. He then studied Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University and served as a missionary for the LDS Church in Taiwan for two years before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a bachelor of arts in international politics in 1987.
While Huntsman was visiting the White House in 1971 during his father's service as special assistant to U.S. president Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger confided to the eleven-year-old that he was secretly traveling to China. Jon Huntsman Jr. worked as a White House staff assistant in Reagan administration in 1983. From 1987 to 1988, Huntsman and his family lived and worked in Taipei, Taiwan. Huntsman and Enid Greene Mickelsen were co-directors of Reagan's campaign in Utah. During the 1988 presidential election, he was a state delegate at the 1988 Republican National Convention.
Under President George H. W. Bush, Huntsman was deputy assistant secretary in the International Trade Administration from 1989 to 1990. He served as deputy assistant secretary of commerce for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, from 1990 to 1991. In June 1992, Bush appointed Huntsman as U.S. ambassador to Singapore, and he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in August. At 32 years old, he became the youngest U.S. Ambassador to serve in over 100 years.
In January 2001, after George W. Bush took office as president, The Washington Post reported there was a strong possibility Huntsman would be appointed to be the new U.S. ambassador to China. In March, Huntsman reportedly turned down the nomination to be the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia. On March 28, Bush appointed Huntsman to be one of two Deputy United States trade representatives in his administration; he served in this role from 2001 to 2003.
In March 2003, Huntsman resigned his post in the Bush administration. In mid-August, three-term incumbent governor Mike Leavitt, who Huntsman strongly supported, decided not to run for re-election in order to become EPA administrator in the Bush administration. Shortly thereafter, Huntsman filed papers to run for Governor of Utah. In the June 2004 Republican primary, Huntsman defeated State Representative Nolan Karras 66–34%. In November 2004, Huntsman was elected with 58% of the vote, defeating Democratic Party nominee Scott Matheson Jr. In 2008, Huntsman won re-election with 77.7% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee Bob Springmeyer. Huntsman maintained high approval ratings as governor of Utah, reaching 90% approval at times. He left office with his approval ratings over 80%. Utah was named the best managed state by the Pew Center on the States. Following his term as governor, Utah was also named a top-three state to do business in. The 2006 Cato Institute evaluation gave Huntsman an overall fiscal policy grade of "B"; the institute gave him an "A" on tax policy and an "F" on spending policy. Depending on the methodology used, Utah was either the top-ranked state or fourth-ranked state in the nation for job growth during Huntsman's tenure, with a rate of either 5.9% or 4.8% between 2005 and 2009.
