Jonathan Fried

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As Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the WTO, Mr Fried plays a key role in multilateral trade negotiations, having served as Chair of the WTO’s General Council in 2014 and as Chair of the Dispute Settlement Body in 2013.  He is currently the co-Chair of the G20’s Trade and Investment Working Group.  Formerly Canada’s Ambassador to Japan; Executive Director for Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean at the IMF; Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister; Senior Assistant Deputy Minister for the Department of Finance and Canada's G7 and G20 Finance Deputy, Mr. Fried has also served as Associate Deputy Minister; Assistant Deputy Minister for Trade, Economic and Environmental Policy; Chief Negotiator on China’s WTO accession; Director General for Trade Policy; and chief counsel for NAFTA.  Earlier assignments included Counsellor for Legal and Congressional Affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC and Second Secretary and Vice-Counsel at the Canadian Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil.

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Mr. Fried chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Trade and Investment from 2014-2016, and is a member of the Steering Committee the e15 initiative on Strengthening the Global Trading System.  He is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Central and East European Law Institute and the Asia Pacific Disputes Resolution Research Project of the University of British Columbia.  He was elected three times by the General Assembly of the OAS as a member of the Inter-American Juridical Committee, was vice-chair of the OECD Trade Committee and Chair of APEC’s working group on Alternate Dispute Resolution.

 

Mr. Fried is an active member of the International Monetary and Financial Law Committee of the International Law Association and various other academic and volunteer organizations.  He has served as Counsellor on the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law and Council member of the American Bar Association Section of International Law and Practice, and has spoken and written widely on international legal and economic matters.  Mr. Fried has been Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, and an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Georgetown University Law Center and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at CarletonUniversity.  Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Mr. Fried received his B.A. and LL.B. from the University of Toronto and his LL.M. from Columbia University, and is a member of the Bar of Alberta.

 

Mr. Fried was named in 2015 as the inaugural recipient of the Public Sector Lawyer Award by the Canadian Council on International Law to honour his service and contribution to public international law.