WASHINGTON—President Biden is expected to nominate María Luisa Pagán, a longtime government trade negotiator, as a deputy U.S. trade representative and ambassador to the World Trade Organization, a critical role for accelerating the administration’s engagement with the multilateral organization that has faced multiple challenges in recent years.

María Luisa Pagán has spent nearly three decades as a U.S. government trade lawyer.

Photo: White House

According to administration officials, Mr. Biden is also expected to name Christopher Wilson, another veteran of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, as the agency’s chief negotiator for innovation and intellectual property, a job tasked with solving increasingly thorny IP disputes in digital and pharmaceutical industries.

Their nominations will come as frustration builds over the slow pace of the appointments of key trade officials among business executives and trading partners who are eager to see disputes resolved and new agreements initiated. Katherine Tai, U.S. trade representative, has been working without any of her three deputy positions filled since taking office in March.

Christopher Wilson currently is assistant U.S. trade representative for South and Central Asia.

Photo: White House

The absence of the WTO representative in Geneva, in particular, has been noticed, given Mr. Biden’s pledge to work closely with allies and multilateral organizations after the Trump administration’s go-it-alone trade policy approach fueled tensions with allies, as well as China.

“There are a lot of matters that need urgent discussion and focus in Geneva,” said Wendy Cutler, vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute and former senior USTR official, pointing to responses to Covid-19 recovery including the possibility of an intellectual-property waiver for vaccines, e-commerce negotiations and how to deal with China. Having an experienced negotiator like Ms. Pagán will “help the U.S. contribute to finding solutions to a growing list of problems facing the WTO.”

The WTO has faced various challenges in recent years, including failure to conclude negotiations in key areas such as e-commerce and environmental goods, as well as the dysfunction of the appellate body, the helm of its dispute settlement system, caused by blocking of the appointment of judges by the Obama and Trump administrations.

Two other deputy USTR nominees were named in April but are still awaiting Senate confirmation after receiving overwhelming approval by the Senate Finance Committee on July 13: Sarah Bianchi, a longtime Biden economic adviser, and Jayme White, a top Senate trade adviser. Ms. Bianchi will oversee relations with China and other Asian countries, Africa and industrial competitiveness, among other areas. Mr. White’s portfolio will include Europe, the Western Hemisphere, labor and environment.

Both Ms. Pagán and Mr. Wilson currently hold senior positions at the USTR and have resumes that echo that of Ms. Tai, who served as a staff attorney before becoming a congressional trade adviser.

In a statement, Ms. Tai described Ms. Pagán a “shrewd negotiator” who has “an unparalleled knowledge of our trade agreements that will serve the United States well as we re-establish relationships with our trading partners and work to reform the World Trade Organization.” She also said the varied roles Mr. Wilson has played both in the U.S. and overseas make him uniquely qualified for the newly created position of the chief innovation and IP negotiator.

Ms. Pagán, who has spent nearly three decades as a U.S. government trade lawyer, currently works as the agency’s deputy general counsel. She was the lead lawyer for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and served twice as acting U.S. Trade Representative.

Mr. Wilson, who joined the USTR in 2000, currently is assistant U.S. trade representative for South and Central Asia. His prior roles include deputy representative to the WTO in Geneva during the Obama and Trump administrations.

Write to Yuka Hayashi at yuka.hayashi@wsj.com