Peter E. Harrell is a senior fellow in the Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), specializing in international economic matters including trade, industrial policy, and sanctions and export controls. He concurrently serves as a visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Institute of International Economic Law and maintains a private law practice.
Harrell’s research interests include the future of the global trading order, the expanding array of U.S. industrial policy tools, and the relationship between national security tools such as export controls and import controls and the U.S. and international economy. He often comments on the intersection of law and policy and regularly publishes on legal issues related to novel uses of U.S. trade, industrial policy, and sanctions tools. Harrell’s writing has appeared in outlets such as Foreign Affairs, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and Lawfare and is regularly quoted in the media. He also testifies frequently before U.S. congressional committees.
Harrell’s past government service consists of two years at the White House, where he was dual-hatted to the National Economic Council and the National Economic Council between 2021 and 2022. He served at the State Department from 2009 to 2014, where he worked on a range of international economic policy matters. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.