Speaker: Dr. Julie Callahan, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)
Topic: Food Security, Sustainability, and the Evolution of Agricultural Trade Policy
Bio: Julie Callahan serves as the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Agricultural Affairs and Commodity Policy. In this role, she oversees work to promote the interests of U.S. farmers, ranchers, and food manufacturers, including oversight of agricultural trade policy development, work to reduce tariff and nontariff barriers to U.S. agricultural exports, negotiation and implementation of free trade agreements (FTAs), and work in the WTO and multilateral organizations on agricultural trade-related issues for USTR.
Dr. Callahan previously served as a Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative and Senior Director in the USTR Agriculture Office, focusing on strategic engagement in UN organizations, EU, UK, Turkey, and Eastern European Sanitary and Phytosanitary Issues and agriculture-related Technical Barriers to Trade.
Prior to joining USTR, Dr. Callahan held senior leadership positions in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, executing strategic and operational planning, aligning FDA analytical and policy approaches to preempt or resolve regulatory issues that arise in international trade, and promoting U.S. public health objectives in US trade positions, including in WTO SPS and TBT Committees, trade negotiations, and FTA implementation. She has also served in the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, and the American Chemical Society.
Dr. Callahan earned her doctoral degree in Marine Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts and a Bachelor of Science in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science from MIT.
