Innovate. Engage. Lead. We are one of the world’s premier centers for interdisciplinary, international, non-partisan analysis and research of global developments.
Offering a unique intersection of business and law in an international environment, our aim is to provide students, alumni, policymakers, and market participants with the foundation to navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape in trade policy, international tax, monetary affairs, fintech and financial regulation.
As global leaders gather at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, IIEL Faculty Co-Director Kathleen Claussen spoke on the panel “Governments as Economic Super Actors,” exploring the uses of tariffs—including their efficacy as a tool to promote domestic production and as a bargaining chip in negotiations.
Professor Claussen highlighted that tariffs have become “the tool for everything, the lead foreign policy tool, more than just the lead foreign commerce tool,” while also emphasizing that “a deal is not an endgame.”
She was joined by fellow speakers Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Minister Akazawa Ryosei, Bob Willen, Sunny Mann, and Martin E. Sandbu contributing to these important conversations on the future of international cooperation in a contested world.
Georgetown Law and the Institute of International Economic Law are pleased to announce that Himamauli Das, Senior Managing Director and Counsel for K2 Integrity and former Acting Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, has joined the Institute as a Senior Fellow.
He brings extensive experience in U.S. and international economic law and policy, having led reforms of the U.S. anti-money laundering framework at FinCEN, issuing key regulations and coordinating enforcement domestically and abroad. Him has also held senior roles across the U.S. government, including at the White House on international trade and investment, at Treasury as its top international and CFIUS lawyer, and at the State Department advising on sanctions, trade, and climate negotiations.
The Institute is pleased to welcome Him, whose work will advance the Institute’s mission of creating, refining, and building the ideas that will define the international economic order in the twenty-first century.
The Institute of International Economic Law is excited to share additional speakers for the 47th Annual International Trade Update, taking place on March 12–13, 2026. The conference will be offered in person at Georgetown Law and via livestream for remote attendees.
Alongside the International Trade Update, a primer on trade law today—Trade 101—will be offered on a complimentary basis to all conference registrants on March 6, 2026. This crash-course program will consist of three virtual sessions covering the global trading system; customs and trade agreements; and tariffs, trade remedies, and other statutory authorities.
Going into its 47th iteration, Georgetown Law's International Trade Update is the premier continuing legal education program for the trade and customs bar, offering an annual assessment and forecast of key legal and policy developments. Sessions will cover trade litigation outcomes and implications, critical issues and enforcement trends at federal agencies, trade remedies, trade negotiations and disputes, challenges facing Congress and the judiciary, and other pressing topics for trade and customs practitioners and their clients.
This year's conference will take place on March 12-13 online and live in Washington, DC at Georgetown Law.
The Center on Inclusive Trade and Development is housed at the Institute of International Economic Law and was founded in 2022. It aims to bring together scholars, students, practitioners, NGOs, business and labor leaders, and international organizations to find solutions to the challenges facing the international trading system and develop global approaches to making trade rules more inclusive and sustainable.
The Sovereign Debt Forum is one of the Institute of International Economic Law's initiatives founded in 2019. Its work focuses on low- and middle-income countries at risk of sovereign debt distress, as well as countries that have recently gained market access and have limited debt management experience. This year, the Forum will host DebtCon 8 in Fall 2025.