Public Citizen Names Melinda St. Louis as New Director of Global Trade Watch

Today, Public Citizen announced the appointment of Melinda St. Louis as the director of Global Trade Watch.

"Melinda St. Louis is a brilliant strategist and campaigner with a lifelong commitment to advance global justice," said Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen. "She is the perfect person to lead Public Citizen's advocacy on trade and globalization - and to help lead the nation, and the world, toward more just policies."

"For more than two decades, I worked alongside and then as part of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch team to build a movement for trade justice in the United States, rooted in solidarity with our partners around the world. After three years learning additional strategies from movement leaders in the health care arena, I'm humbled and thrilled to 'come home' and lead Global Trade Watch into our next chapter," said St. Louis.

In her new role, which begins on March 7, 2022, St. Louis will lead Global Trade Watch's mission to ensure that in this era of globalization, a majority have the opportunity to enjoy economic security, a healthy environment, safe food, medicines and products, access to quality affordable services such as health care and the exercise of democratic decision-making about the matters that affect our lives.

St. Louis continued, "Building on our past successes in shifting the political debate on corporate-dominated trade policy, we have the opportunity now to realize a new trade policy that no longer undermines, but instead serves our common progressive policy goals: to create good jobs, build climate resilience, combat poverty, and ensure access to safe food, consumer goods, and medicines - here in the U.S. and around the globe. I look forward to creating that vision with the talented Global Trade Watch team and our U.S. and international coalition partners."

Global Trade Watch has led the fight against corporate-rigged "trade" agreements that provide special powers for Big Pharma to raise medicine prices, promote the outsourcing of jobs to low-wage countries and undermine the food safety and other safeguards on which our families rely. For decades, we have fought for progressive alternatives that benefit people and the planet.