Joshua P. Meltzer is a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. His research focuses on international economic relations and the intersection of technology and trade policy. Along with Cameron Kerry, he co-leads the Forum on Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence (FCAI)—a multistakeholder dialogue with government officials from the U.S., EU, Canada, the U.K., Singapore, Japan, and Australia, as well as AI experts from industry and academia. He also leads the USMCA initiative, which focuses on how the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) can strengthen international cooperation in North America.
Meltzer has testified before the U.S. Congress, the U.S. International Trade Commission, and the European Parliament. He was an expert witness in the Schrems II litigation in Europe on data flows and privacy and a consultant to the World Bank on trade and privacy matters. He is a member of the Australian government’s National Data Advisory Council and the OECD’s “Data Free Flow with Trust” expert community. Meltzer teaches digital trade law at Melbourne University Law School and has taught digital trade law as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Law School and ecommerce and digital trade at the diplomatic academy of the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Before joining Brookings, he was a diplomat at the Australian Embassy in Washington D.C. and prior to that an international trade negotiator in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Meltzer has appeared in numerous media outlets, including the Economist, the New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg, the Asahi Shimbun, and China Daily. He holds an S.J.D. and LL.M. from the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor and law and commerce degrees from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.
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Areas of Expertise
- International Trade policy
- International Trade Law
- World Trade Organization
- Free Trade Agreements
- Climate Change
- Energy
- Technology
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Current Positions
- Visiting Technical Expert, Advisory Committee on International Standards, National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce
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Past Positions
- Consultant to Oliver Wyman on digital economy and trade issues
- Digital Task Force Member, Atlantic Council
- Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, Washington D.C.
- Member of the E15 Expert Group on Measures to Address Climate Change and the Trade System, Geneva
- Co-chair of the Prosperity Working Group at the American Internationalism Project, Washington D.C.
- Convenor of the E15 Expert Group on the Digital Economy, Geneva
- Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law School, Washington D.C.
- First Secretary, Trade, Climate Change and Energy Policy, Australian Embassy in Washington D.C.
- Officer, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
- Lecturer, University of Melbourne Law School
- Tutor, Monash University Law School, Australia
- World Trade Organization, Geneva
- United Nations International Law Commission, Geneva
- Solicitor, Sackville Wilks & Co (Lawyers), Melbourne
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Education
- S.J.D., University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor (2010)
- LL.M., University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor (2001)
- LL.B. (Law Degree), Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (1997)
- B. Comm., Monash University, Melbourne, Australia (1994)