James Wallar

Senior Associate (Non-resident), Economics Program and Scholl Chair for International Business
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James Wallar

James Wallar has worked on economic, trade, fiscal, and finance policy in both the public and private sectors. At Nathan Associates, he served as Senior Vice President of the International Group from 2010 to 2014, overseeing economic growth projects in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. In this role, he also provided technical advice to APEC committees on developing strategic plans, served as chief of party for USAID’s Leadership in Public Financial Management II Project and USAID’s ASEAN-U.S. Technical Assistance and Training Facility at the ASEAN Secretariat. Prior to Nathan, Mr. Wallar had a distinguished career at the U.S. Treasury Department, first as an economist with the Office of Tariff and Trade Affairs, then as Deputy Director of the Development Policy Office, and finally as Director of the Office of Trade Policy. Notably, he worked in the inter-agency process to develop trade policies, including negotiating positions for the Uruguay Round and NAFTA, and for bilateral and regional trade issues. In 2009, Mr. Wallar was the U.S. Treasury Attache at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, where he led a group of civilian and military experts that provided technical assistance to the Finance Ministry and Central Bank. His other overseas positions include U.S. Treasury Representative for European Affairs in Frankfurt, the Treasury Attache to Russia, Germany, and Switzerland, the Minister Counsellor for Economics and Investment at the US Mission to the OECD in Paris, and an economic advisor to the Afghanistan Reconstruction Group in Kabul. He also was a USTR trade negotiator with the Geneva delegation during the Tokyo Round and helped pass legislation to implement the results of the Round.