Lori Wallach | |
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Personal details | |
Born | 1964 (age 60–61) Wisconsin |
Education | Wellesley College (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
Lori Wallach (born 1964) is the Director of Rethink Trade at the American Economic Liberties Project and a senior advisor to the Citizens Trade Campaign. [1] She is known for her work in analyzing trade agreements and advocating for fair trade policies. [2] She has played a key role in shaping public discourse on trade issues. [3]
Wallach was born in 1964 in Wisconsin, and is of Jewish descent. [4] She graduated from Wellesley College in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. She received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Harvard Law School in 1990. [5]
Wallach has over 30 years of experience in international and U.S. congressional trade issues, including involvement in trade debates such as those surrounding NAFTA and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the 1990s. [6]
Wallach joined Ralph Nader's Public Citizen Litigation Group as the first Supreme Court Assistance Project fellow in 1990. In 1995, she founded Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, which she directed for 26 years. [7] Prior to her work at Public Citizen, she worked on Capitol Hill, electoral campaigns, and in television news.
Wallach was named to "Politico’s 50" list in 2016 for her role in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) debate and has been included on Washingtonian's 500 Most Influential list. [8] [9] Wallach has worked on trade policy in Congress, foreign parliaments, trade negotiations, courts, government agencies, and the media. [10]
She played a key role in opposition to the TPP, the first major U.S. trade agreement that Congress did not approve. [11] She provided analysis and raised public awareness regarding the TPP's potential impacts, including corporate influence over domestic policies, offshoring incentives, pharmaceutical monopolies, and restrictions on local procurement policies. She referred to the TPP as "NAFTA on steroids" and analyzed, exposed and elevated publicly its potential consequences. [12] In 2021, she co-authored an op-ed with economist Joseph Stiglitz in The Washington Post advocating for the waiver of intellectual property restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines to support global vaccination efforts.
Wallach has appeared on numerous media platforms including MSNBC , CNN , NPR , ABC , CNBC , Fox News , PBS , Bloomberg TV , BBC and C-SPAN . [13] [14] [15] In addition, she has been quoted extensively in publications such as The New York Times , The Economist , Forbes , The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal , the Financial Times , USA Today , Bloomberg , and The National Journal . She has also been a contributor to HuffPost , Democracy Now! , and PBS. [16] [17]
Representative Rosa DeLauro praised Wallach's "granular knowledge" and stated that Wallach is her "source of information and knowledge." [18]