diff --git a/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/trace_state.h b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/trace_state.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c827cd80e00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/include/opentelemetry/trace/trace_state.h
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+// Copyright 2020, OpenTelemetry Authors
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <cstring>
+
+#include "opentelemetry/nostd/span.h"
+#include "opentelemetry/nostd/string_view.h"
+#include "opentelemetry/nostd/unique_ptr.h"
+
+namespace opentelemetry
+{
+namespace trace
+{
+
+/**
+ * TraceState carries tracing-system specific context in a list of key-value pairs. TraceState
+ * allows different vendors to propagate additional information and inter-operate with their legacy
+ * id formats.
+ *
+ * For more information, see the W3C Trace Context specification:
+ * https://www.w3.org/TR/trace-context
+ */
+class TraceState
+{
+public:
+  static constexpr int kKeyMaxSize       = 256;
+  static constexpr int kValueMaxSize     = 256;
+  static constexpr int kMaxKeyValuePairs = 32;
+
+  // Class to store key-value pairs.
+  class Entry
+  {
+  public:
+    Entry() noexcept = default;
+
+    // Copy constructor.
+    Entry(const Entry &copy);
+
+    // Creates an Entry for a given key-value pair.
+    Entry(nostd::string_view key, nostd::string_view value) noexcept;
+
+    nostd::string_view GetKey();
+    nostd::string_view GetValue();
+
+  private:
+    // Store key and value as raw char pointers to avoid using std::string.
+    nostd::unique_ptr<const char[]> key_;
+    nostd::unique_ptr<const char[]> value_;
+  };
+
+  // An empty TraceState.
+  TraceState() noexcept : num_entries_(0) {}
+
+  // Returns false if no such key, otherwise returns true and populates value.
+  bool Get(nostd::string_view key, nostd::string_view value) const noexcept { return false; }
+
+  // Creates an Entry for the key-value pair and adds it to entries.
+  // If value is null, this function is a no-op.
+  void Set(nostd::string_view key, nostd::string_view value) const noexcept;
+
+  // Returns true if there are no keys, false otherwise.
+  bool Empty() const noexcept { return true; }
+
+  // Returns a span of all the entries. The TraceState object must outlive the span.
+  nostd::span<Entry> Entries() const noexcept { return {}; }
+
+  // Returns whether key is a valid key. See https://www.w3.org/TR/trace-context/#key
+  static bool IsValidKey(nostd::string_view key);
+
+  // Returns whether value is a valid value. See https://www.w3.org/TR/trace-context/#value
+  static bool IsValidValue(nostd::string_view value);
+
+private:
+  // Store entries in a C-style array to avoid using std::array or std::vector.
+  Entry entries_[kMaxKeyValuePairs];
+
+  // Maintain the number of entries in entries_. Must be in the range [0, kMaxKeyValuePairs].
+  int num_entries_;
+};
+
+}  // namespace trace
+}  // namespace opentelemetry
diff --git a/api/test/trace/BUILD b/api/test/trace/BUILD
index b3f194baa0c..1fce77d6418 100644
--- a/api/test/trace/BUILD
+++ b/api/test/trace/BUILD
@@ -82,3 +82,14 @@ cc_test(
         "@com_google_googletest//:gtest_main",
     ],
 )
+
+cc_test(
+    name = "trace_state_test",
+    srcs = [
+        "trace_state_test.cc",
+    ],
+    deps = [
+        "//api",
+        "@com_google_googletest//:gtest_main",
+    ],
+)
diff --git a/api/test/trace/trace_state_test.cc b/api/test/trace/trace_state_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e74beaa05b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/test/trace/trace_state_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+#include "opentelemetry/trace/trace_state.h"
+
+#include <gtest/gtest.h>
+
+namespace
+{
+
+using opentelemetry::trace::TraceState;
+
+TEST(TraceStateTest, DefaultConstruction)
+{
+  TraceState s;
+  EXPECT_FALSE(s.Get("missing_key", "value"));
+  EXPECT_TRUE(s.Empty());
+  EXPECT_EQ(0, s.Entries().size());
+}
+}  // namespace