Episode 65: The Future of Trade and Globalization—A Conversation with Former WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy

Jeffrey Rathke

Jeff Rathke

President of AGI

Jeffrey Rathke is the President of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.

Prior to joining AICGS, Jeff was a senior fellow and deputy director of the Europe Program at CSIS, where his work focused on transatlantic relations and U.S. security and defense policy. Jeff joined CSIS in 2015 from the State Department, after a 24-year career as a Foreign Service Officer, dedicated primarily to U.S. relations with Europe. He was director of the State Department Press Office from 2014 to 2015, briefing the State Department press corps and managing the Department's engagement with U.S. print and electronic media. Jeff led the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur from 2011 to 2014. Prior to that, he was deputy chief of staff to the NATO Secretary General in Brussels. He also served in Berlin as minister-counselor for political affairs (2006–2009), his second tour of duty in Germany. His Washington assignments have included deputy director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs and duty officer in the White House Situation Room and State Department Operations Center.

Mr. Rathke was a Weinberg Fellow at Princeton University (2003–2004), winning the Master’s in Public Policy Prize. He also served at U.S. Embassies in Dublin, Moscow, and Riga, which he helped open after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mr. Rathke has been awarded national honors by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as several State Department awards. He holds an M.P.P. degree from Princeton University and B.A. and B.S. degrees from Cornell University. He speaks German, Russian, and Latvian.

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jrathke@aicgs.org

Pascal Lamy

Jacques Delors Institute

Pascal Lamy holds various mandates at the global, European, and French levels. He is notably the President of the Paris Peace Forum, of the European branch of the Brunswick Group and coordinator of the Jacques Delors Institutes (Paris, Berlin, Brussels).

Pascal Lamy served two terms as Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from September 2005 to September 2013.

He graduated of the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) in Paris, of the Faculty of Law (Sorbonne), of the Institut d’Études Politiques (IEP) and of the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA).

He began his career in the French civil service at the General Inspectorate of Finance and the Treasury. In 1981, he became advisor of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Jacques Delors, then Deputy Head of Prime Minister’s Pierre Mauroy cabinet in 1983.

From 1985 to 1994, Pascal Lamy was the chief of staff of the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors, and his “sherpa” at the G7.

In 1994, he joined the team in charge of the recovery of the French bank Crédit Lyonnais then becoming its CEO up to its privatization in 1999, before returning to the European Commission as Trade Commissioner (Romano Prodi’s Presidency) until the end of 2004.

After his mandate in Brussels, Pascal Lamy chaired for a brief sabbatical period the think tank working on European integration created by Jacques Delors, “Notre Europe” (now “Institut Jacques Delors”). He also became an associate professor at the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris and an advisor to Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of the European Socialist Party. In 2005, he was elected to head the WTO.

He has received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from 8 universities as well as numerous awards and distinctions in France and throughout the world.

Pascal Lamy chairs the Paris Peace Forum since 2019, the French National Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), the European Starfish mission (ocean), the Danone mission committee, the Aspen Africa-Europe meetings. He coordinates the Jacques Delors Institutes (Paris, Berlin, Brussels). He co-chairs the Antartica 2020 coalition. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the European Climate Foundation (ECF), Transparency International France, the Center on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), IFPRI (where he chairs the strategy and programs committee), the Musiciens du Louvre (Minkowski orchestra), the Institut Pierre-Mendès-France, Collegium International, the Institut Jean Monet, Senior Advisor to Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) and the World Trade Board, member of the Advisory Board of Transparency International, the Oxford Martin School, the Back to Blue Initiative (The Economist), Covid Gap (Duke University) and the World Risk Report (WEF). He is a trustee of Europeum and Friends of Europe, an affiliated professor at HEC, China Europe International Business School CEIBS, Shanghai and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. He is also a member of the Global Foundation Roundtable (Rome), a member of the Steering Committee of the Colbert Foundation and a member of the Advisory Board of the Alpbach Forum and the Senior Advisory Council of the Beijing Forum.

Pascal Lamy also lectures, including to the benefit of Institut Jacques Delors, among other engagements on issues related to globalisation, global governance, international trade, international economics, regional integration, European and French issues.

Peter S. Rashish

Vice President; Director, Geoeconomics Program

Peter S. Rashish, who counts over 25 years of experience counseling corporations, think tanks, foundations, and international organizations on transatlantic trade and economic strategy, is Vice President and Director of the Geoeconomics Program at AICGS. He also writes The Wider Atlantic blog.

Mr. Rashish has served as Vice President for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he spearheaded the Chamber’s advocacy ahead of the launch of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Previously, Mr. Rashish was a Senior Advisor for Europe at McLarty Associates, and has held positions as Executive Vice President of the European Institute, on the Paris-based staff of the International Energy Agency, and as a consultant to the World Bank, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Atlantic Council, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Mr. Rashish has testified on the euro zone and U.S.-European economic relations before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade and the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia and has advised three U.S. presidential campaigns. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Jean Monnet Institute in Paris and a Senior Advisor to the European Policy Centre in Brussels. His commentaries have been published in The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest, and he has appeared on PBS, CNBC, CNN, and NPR.

He earned a BA from Harvard College and an M.Phil. in international relations from Oxford University. He speaks French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

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prashish@aicgs.org


On this episode of the podcast, AGI President Jeff Rathke and Peter Rashish, Director of the AGI Geoeconomics Program, discuss the challenges facing globalization and the evolving international trading system with Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Coordinator of the Jacques Delors Institutes. Is the world in an era of de-globalization or re-globalization? Has Europe’s willingness to open its economy to global trade in the post-Cold War era created vulnerabilities toward Russia and China? Will foreign policy preferences toward allies or adversaries shape international trade flows? How should policy makers respond to growing calls to reengineer trade policy to bring about more equity at home? Are climate clubs among nations an effective solution toward balancing trade and climate goals? And what can be done—including reforms to the WTO—to ensure there continues to be a mutually beneficial economic relationship with China under the country’s state-capitalist model?


Host

Jeff Rathke, President, AGI

Guest

Pascal Lamy, former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) & Coordinator of the Jacques Delors Institutes
Peter Rashish, AGI Senior Fellow; Director, Geoeconomics Program

The views expressed are those of the author(s) alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the American-German Institute.