ECA Talk: Trade Policy, Industrial Policy, and the Economic Security of the European Union

Chad P. Bown joined the Peterson Institute for International Economics as a senior fellow in April 2016 and has been the Reginald Jones Senior Fellow since March 2018. He was on leave for public service as chief economist for the US Department of State in the Biden-Harris administration from January 2024 until January 2025. His research examines the political economy of international trade policy, industrial policy, economic security, supply chains, and trade agreements. He is the host of Trade Talks, a podcast about the economics of international trade and policy that he co-created with Soumaya Keynes. Bown previously served as senior economist for international trade and investment in the White House on President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2010 to 2011. He was also a lead economist at the World Bank, a tenured professor of economics at Brandeis University, and also spent a year  as a visiting scholar at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat in Geneva.

Román Arjona is Chief Economist at the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. In addition to his role at the European Commission, he is Vice-Chair of the OECD’s Committee for Industry, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE). He was Chief Economist and Head of Strategy and Foresight at the Directorate-General for Research & Innovation, and Vice-Chair of the OECD’s Committee for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP). He previously served in the Spanish government as Secretary-General for Science, Technology and Innovation, and before joining the Commission he was an adviser to the Spanish State Secretary and the Spanish Minister for Science and Technology. Mr Arjona worked for the European Investment Bank and the International Monetary Fund as well as for the OECD as an economist.

Leonardo Iacovone is a Lead Economist in the Trade, Investment and Competitiveness (TIC) Global Practice at the World Bank Group. After having joined the World Bank as Young Professional in 2008, Leonardo has worked in the Development Research Group, the Financial and Private Sector Development Unit of the Africa Region, and the Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship Global Practice. Before joining the World Bank Leonardo worked as economic advisor in Latin America and Southern Africa for UNDP, WTO, UNIDO, USAID, EU, and the Government of Mozambique. Leonardo was trained at Bocconi University of Milan, Italy, University Torquato di Tella of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and received a PhD in Economics from University of Sussex.