Partner
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

Grant Aldonas focuses on international trade and investment, including international trade policy.

Immediately prior to joining Akin Gump, Mr. Aldonas served in the Bush administration as the Commerce Department’s undersecretary for international trade. As head of the Department’s International Trade Administration, he was responsible for advising the secretary of Commerce on international trade and economic issues, and managed 2,400 ITA employees dedicated to expanding overseas markets for American goods, services, capital and ideas. His work at the Commerce Department focused on creating a better economic environment for American business at home and abroad, from negotiating new agreements on market access to expanding export opportunities for American business to enforcing trade agreements and the U.S. trade laws designed to deter unfair trade practices. In addition, he was a leading voice for the U.S. manufacturing sector, serving as the executive director of the President’s Export Council, on the Trade Promotion Coordinating Committee and on the board of directors of the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

Prior to his work at the Commerce Department, Mr. Aldonas served as chief international trade counsel to the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, advising the chairman on international trade and economic matters before the Committee. During Mr. Aldonas’ tenure, Congress passed a number of significant trade bills, including the Trade and Development Act of 2000, Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China, legislation replacing the Foreign Sales Corporation provisions of the Internal Revenue Code and a series of tariff bills.

Before entering public service, Mr. Aldonas spent more than 12 years in private practice focusing on international trade, investment and litigation. During that time, he also served as counsel to the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform and as an adviser to the Commission on U.S.-Pacific Trade and Investment. Earlier in his career, while a Foreign Service officer, Mr. Aldonas served as director of South American and Caribbean affairs in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and as a special assistant to the undersecretary of State for economic affairs.

Mr. Aldonas received his B.A. in 1975 and his J.D. in 1979 from the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Mr. Aldonas serves as chairman of the board of the U.S. arm of Transparency International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the elimination of corruption. In addition, he is an adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center in affiliation with the Institute for International Economic Law, teaching courses on trade and development and the resolution of international trade disputes. He is a former chair of the American Bar Association’s Task Force on Multilateral Investment Agreements and served as former vice chair of the ABA Section of International Law and Practice’s Committees on Trade and Foreign Investment.