Thank you for joining WITA for an Emergency Webinar which discussed the ruling by the United States Supreme Court that “IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.” Our trade-insiders broke down the ruling and the implications for U.S. trade policy.
Featured Speakers:
Kathleen Claussen, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center; former Associate General Counsel, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Wendy Cutler, Senior Vice President, Asia Society Policy Institute; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Joe Damond, Chair of International Trade Policy & Global Life Sciences, Crowell Global Advisors; former Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia
Peter Harrell, Visiting Scholar, Georgetown Institute for International Economic Law; former Senior Director, International Economics, at the White House under President Biden
Kate Kalutkiewicz, Senior Managing Director, McLarty Associates; former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Trade, National Economic Council, in the first Trump Administration
Chris Padilla, Senior Advisor, Brunswick Group; former Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Department of Commerce, under President George W. Bush
Moderator: Kenneth Levinson, CEO, WITA – The International Trade Membership Association
Kathleen Claussen, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center; former Associate General Counsel, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Professor Kathleen Claussen has been Managing Faculty Co-Director of Georgetown’s widely acclaimed Institute of International Economic Law, overseeing the Institute’s programming, as well as its budget and administration. She also is the co-founder of SAILS: the Consortium for the Study and Analysis of International Law Scholarship.
Before joining the academy, Professor Claussen was Associate General Counsel at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in the Executive Office of the President. There, she represented the United States in trade dispute proceedings and served as a legal advisor for the United States in international trade negotiations. She also worked on economic security issues on behalf of USTR at the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force. In 2020-2021, she was an invited member of the Biden-Harris Transition Team, covering trade, commerce, and development agencies.
Earlier in her career, Professor Claussen was Legal Counsel at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague where she advised on disputes between countries, and on investment and commercial arbitrations involving countries and international organizations. She also clerked for the Honorable David F. Hamilton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. At Yale, Professor Claussen served on the board of the Yale Law Journal and was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Journal of International Law. She was awarded the Jerome Sayles Hess Fund Prize for excellence in international law and the Howard M. Holtzmann Fellowship in international dispute resolution.
Wendy Cutler, Senior Vice President, Asia Society Policy Institute; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Wendy Cutler is Senior Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), based in Washington, D.C. In this role, she focuses on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment, economic security, and innovation, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative.
During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations, and the WTO Financial Services negotiations. She has published a series of ASPI papers on the Asian trade landscape and serves as a regular media commentator on trade and investment developments in Asia and the world.
Joe Damond, Chair of International Trade Policy & Global Life Sciences, Crowell Global Advisors; former Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia
Joe Damond guides clients in expanding market access around the globe for health care, life sciences, medical devices, and digital health companies.
Joe works with leading clients in the health care industry to advance health policy initiatives and navigate the evolving global political and regulatory landscape. He also focuses on the international trade and investment challenges facing multinational companies. As a recognized leader on issues of emerging technologies, Joe uses his three decades of experience to provide insight on standards, best practices, legislation, regulation, and public preparedness.
Prior to joining Crowell Global Advisors, Joe was the Chair of Health Policy at Edelman Global Advisory. Joe also served as Deputy Chief Policy Officer and Executive Vice President for International Affairs at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), where he developed the industry association’s global policy strategy on healthcare, economic and trade issues, and foreign government relations policy. Before his work at BIO, Joe served as Vice President for International Government Relations for Pfizer, where he managed their international trade and commercial issues, including leading industry efforts to strengthen market access and intellectual property (IP) provisions in the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. Prior to Pfizer, he worked as Deputy Vice President for International Affairs at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) where he led Asia and global market access programs, and developed the industry’s successful strategy for market IP and access provisions in the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Joe spent more than ten years at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, serving in several capacities, including Special Economic Assistant to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Executive Director of the Generalized System of Preferences, and Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia and Pacific.
Joe studied at Princeton and Georgetown universities, and authored the book, Give Trade a Chance: The Negotiation of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement.
Peter Harrell, Visiting Scholar, Georgetown Institute for International Economic Law; former Senior Director, International Economics, at the White House under President Biden
Peter E. Harrell is a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown’s Institute of International Economic Law. Harrell has had a diverse career across both the public and private sectors and currently serves as an attorney advising companies and investors on international legal, regulatory, and geopolitical risks, including economic sanctions and trade compliance matters. As a Visiting Scholar, Harrell’s research agenda focuses on the future of U.S. trade law and policy and the global trading order.
From January 2021 through 2022, Harrell served at the White House as Senior Director for International Economics, jointly appointed to the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. In that role, Harrell led White House initiatives to secure U.S. supply chains for critical products, worked on international digital and telecommunications policy and negotiations, served as the White House representative to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States; and led policy processes to impose sanctions and export controls on Russia in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
From 2015 to early 2021, Harrell was an attorney in private practice and served as Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. Harrell’s articles and essays have appeared in publications including the Fordham International Law Journal, the Journal of International Economic Law, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Politico, and Lawfare, among other outlets. Harrell has also testified in front of multiple congressional committees. He is also the host of a podcast, Security Economics.
Between 2009 and 2014, Harrell served at the U.S. State Department, first on the Policy Planning Staff and subsequently in the Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. Earlier in his career, Harrell served on President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign and as a reporter for Congressional Quarterly.
In addition to serving as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of International Economic Law, Harrell is also a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Harrell is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University and holds a JD from the Yale Law School.
Kate Kalutkiewicz, Senior Managing Director, McLarty Associates; former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Trade, National Economic Council, in the first Trump Administration
Kate Kalutkiewicz, Senior Managing Director, leads the McLarty trade practice and contributes to the firm’s Europe practice and McLarty Inbound.
Kate has managed complex challenges around global trade, industrial, and investment policy for nearly two decades. Her experience spans roles in government, particularly in Europe and South America, where she honed her skills in negotiating complex international agreements and navigating the nuance around public-private sector interactions.
Kate most recently served as Head of US Trade Policy for Amazon, where she advocated a broad range of international trade and economic issues with the US Government, touching several sectors, including retail, creative content production and distribution, cloud services, sustainable fleet, autos, and hardline manufacturing.
Prior to that, Kate served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Trade at the National Economic Council, where she developed and led US trade policy initiatives. During her White House tenure, she led interagency teams responsible for the US G7 Presidency and US positions on supply chain resiliency and support for the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before serving in the White House, Kate was the Senior Trade Representative at the US Mission to the European Union from 2016-2020. While in Brussels, she was the USTR’s primary interlocutor with the European Commission and Member State authorities responsible for trade.
Before her time in Brussels, Kate held the role of USTR’s Director for European Affairs (2011-2016) and served as Associate Chief Negotiator for the US in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations. She began her career at USTR as its Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone (2007-2011), where she was the principal agency representative for implementing and managing US trade policy in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
Prior to USTR, Kate was a legislative assistant in the office of Senator James Talent (R-MO), where she supported the Senator on issues related to trade, foreign policy, homeland security, immigration, and the judiciary.
Chris Padilla, Senior Advisor, Brunswick Group; former Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, Department of Commerce, under President George W. Bush
Christopher Padilla is a Senior Advisor based in Brunswick’s Washington, DC office. He brings senior experience from decades spent in government policy and corporate roles, and practical perspective from his time as a supply chain practitioner. He has championed advocacy efforts on trade, tariffs, and tax policy at the highest levels of government worldwide.
Previously, Padilla led global government and regulatory affairs for IBM Corporation for 15 years. He oversaw a team of advocacy professionals in 36 countries, and trade and sanctions compliance for IBM’s global operations.
Before IBM, Padilla held senior roles in the Commerce Department. The President twice appointed him to Senate-confirmed positions, as Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, and as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration. He also held roles as an Assistant United States Trade Representative, a Senior Advisor at the Department of State, and as a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
Earlier, he spent 15 years in marketing, business development, and international trade relations roles at AT&T and Eastman Kodak Company. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in international economics from Johns Hopkins University.
Moderator: Kenneth Levinson, CEO, WITA – The International Trade Membership Association
Ken Levinson serves as the Chief Executive Officer of WITA – The International Trade Membership Association. WITA is the world’s largest non-profit, non-partisan membership organization dedicated to providing a neutral forum for the open and robust discussion of international trade policy and economic issues. WITA and its affiliated groups have over 10,000 members, and more than 160 corporate sponsors and group memberships.
Ken has over 30 years of experience working with companies, associations, NGOs and governments, advocating innovative solutions to complex public policy challenges. Over the years, Ken has worked with clients in the technology, telecommunications, biopharmaceuticals, agriculture and food, financial services, retail, apparel, energy, and consumer products sectors.
Previously, Ken served as Senior Director for Global Government Affairs for AstraZeneca. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Ken served as Senior Vice President and COO at the Washington, DC consulting firm of Fontheim International. Ken joined Fontheim after spending six years on the staff of U.S. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV. Ken advised the Senator on foreign policy and national security matters, and served as the Senator’s chief advisor on the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, dealing with issues related to international trade and tax policy.
Ken received his Master’s Degree from New York University after doing his undergraduate work at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst. Ken also spent a year studying at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Ken and his wife, the Reverend Donna Marsh, live in Chicago, IL, with their two daughters.