On May 12, WITA discussed how carbon border adjustment measures (CBAM) fit in the context of national and multilateral efforts to reduce carbon’s impact on climate change.
WITA Webinar Featuring:
Dave Banks, Fellow at Bipartisan Policy Center, Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council
Andrew Shoyer, Partner and Co-Lead, Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy, Sidley
Madelaine Tuininga, European Commission, DG Trade Head of Unit for Sustainable Development and the European Green Deal
Moderator: Samantha Gross, Director, Energy Security and Climate Initiative, Brookings
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
George David Banks is Executive Vice President at the American Council for Capital Formation. He is an economist, political consultant, and policy advocate, focusing on energy, environment, and trade. Banks has published reports and opinion editorials on a variety of policy issues, including climate change, civil nuclear power, and energy markets and trade. He is also a fellow at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and a member of the ClearPath Foundation’s advisory board. Most recently, he served as President Donald Trump’s Special Assistant for International Energy and Environment at the National Economic and National Security Councils – a position that required him to manage workstreams related to his portfolio across the federal government.
Samantha Gross is a Fellow and Director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative at the Brookings Institution. Her work is focused on the intersection of energy, environment, and policy, including climate policy and international cooperation, energy efficiency, unconventional oil and gas development, regional and global natural gas trade, and the energy-water nexus.
Gross has more than 20 years of experience in energy and environmental affairs. She has been a visiting fellow at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, where she authored work on clean energy cooperation and on post-Paris climate policy. She was director of the Office of International Climate and Clean Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. In that role, she directed U.S. activities under the Clean Energy Ministerial, including the secretariat and initiatives focusing on clean energy implementation and access and energy efficiency. Prior to her time at the Department of Energy, Gross was director of integrated research at IHS CERA. She managed the IHS CERA Climate Change and Clean Energy forum and the IHS relationship with the World Economic Forum. She also authored numerous papers on energy and environment topics and was a frequent speaker on these topics. She has also worked at the Government Accountability Office on the Natural Resources and Environment team and as an engineer directing environmental assessment and remediation projects.
Gross holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, a Master of Science in environmental engineering from Stanford, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.
Andrew Shoyer co-Leads Sidley’s Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy practice. Andy focuses on the implementation and enforcement of international trade and investment agreements. Andy also advises companies on compliance with sanctions administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and export controls and anti-boycott rules administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), as well as proceedings before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Drawing on his experience at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and with the World Trade Organization (WTO), Andy advises companies, trade associations and governments on the use of WTO, USMCA and other treaty-based trade and investment rules to open markets and resolve disputes. He works extensively with manufacturers and service providers on WTO compliance in Asia and on protection of intellectual property in bilateral and regional free trade negotiations.
Andy spent seven years at USTR, serving most recently as legal adviser in the U.S. Mission to the WTO in Geneva. He was the principal negotiator for the United States of the rules implementing the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding and has briefed and argued numerous WTO cases before dispute settlement panels and the WTO Appellate Body. Prior to his arrival in Geneva, Andy was assistant general counsel at USTR in Washington, D.C., where he served as principal legal counsel in the negotiation of the market access rules of the NAFTA, as well as the framework agreements with various Latin American countries. He also worked on numerous trade policy issues with the U.S. Congress and the economic agencies of the executive branch of the U.S. government. Most recently, Andy has been advising clients on various aspects of the legal and policy implications of Brexit.
Andy’s leadership in the international trade and dispute settlement arena is widely recognized. He is consistently ranked among the nation’s top international trade lawyers by Chambers USA and Who’s Who Legal. Andy has been ranked in Band 1 by Chambers USA every year since 2013. The edition praised Andy as a “standout practitioner” who is highly esteemed by his peers for his proficiency in trade policy matters, particularly in relation to the WTO, and described him as “one of the best WTO lawyers there is.” Andy was recognized in the 2016 edition of Who’s Who Legal: Trade & Customs as a “Global Elite Thought Leader.” In the 2020 edition, he is described as a “superb WTO lawyer” who is particularly proficient in dispute settlement proceedings and “very attentive to client needs.” International Law Office has bestowed on Andy twice its “Client Choice Award” for client service in trade and customs law. In 2017, Andy was listed in The Legal 500’s the Hall of Fame. Andy is an adjunct professor in international trade and investment policy at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University.
Madelaine Tuininga is the DG Trade Head of Unit for Sustainable Development and the European Green Deal, European Commission. The unit covers trade aspects of labour, environment, climate, gender, development and human rights, as well as crosscutting topics such as the Sustainable Development Goals and corporate social responsibility /responsible business conduct. Activities include policy development, negotiations and implementation in relation to these areas through unilateral, bilateral and multilateral trade instruments.
Prior to that, she held management positions in trade defence investigations (2012-2015) and industrial sectors, raw materials, energy and market access (2007-2011). She was coordinator and market access negotiator for free trade agreements with Mexico, Chile and Mercosur (1998-2003) and for WTO accessions, including Russia (2004-2006)
Before joining the Commission (1995-1998), she worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands where she was policy officer for the US and Canada and for WTO dossiers on intellectual property and government procurement.
Madelaine has a law degree from the University of Amsterdam.
Kenneth Levinson is the Executive Director of the Washington International Trade Association (WITA). WITA is Washington’s largest non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to providing a neutral forum in the U.S. capital for the open and robust discussion of international trade policy and economic issues. WITA has over 4,000 members, and more than 170 corporate sponsors and group memberships.
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 started his career on the staff of U.S. Senator John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV, where he served as the Senator’s chief advisor for international trade, tax, foreign policy, and national security.
Ken received a Master’s degree in European History 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 Bethesda, MD, with their two daughters.