Senior Policy Advisor
Sidley Austin LLP

Former Canadian Ambassador
WTO

A veteran of over 30 years in the field of trade policy and negotiations, John Weekes is a senior international trade policy adviser at Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP. He provides strategic advice to the firm’s clients across a broad range of international trade policy matters. He is in regular communication with senior executives of businesses, associations, governments, and international secretariats. Increasingly he is engaged in helping businesses devise approaches to open up markets and address related regulatory problems. A non-lawyer, Mr. Weekes works from the Geneva office of Sidley Austin Brown & Wood.

He is a frequent speaker on the challenges facing the trading system and related political issues. Mr. Weekes participates regularly in conferences on these subjects and contributes articles to newspapers and magazines. Journalists seeking insight and background for trade stories often contact him.

Mr. Weekes is on the Board of the Washington-based Cordell Hull Institute. He is Chair of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law in Geneva, and a member of the Senior Advisory Council to the Abu-Ghazaleh CASIN Center for Trade Policy Capacity Building. He is a Senior Adviser to the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center. He recently chaired a WTO dispute panel.

Prior to joining Sidley Austin Brown & Wood in May 2003, Mr. Weekes was Chair of the Global Trade Practice at APCO Worldwide, an international public affairs and communications consultancy. He joined APCO in 1999 and offered advice to many senior corporate clients. He remains available to provide services through Sidley to APCO and its clients worldwide.

From 1995 until 1999, Mr. Weekes was Canada’s Ambassador to the WTO (World Trade Organization) from 1995 to 1999, and in 1998 served as Chair of the WTO General Council. He chaired the Working Party on the Accession of Saudi Arabia to the WTO from 1996 until 2002. During this same period, Mr. Weekes was also Ambassador to the various United Nations organizations in Geneva.

From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Weekes was Canada's Chief Negotiator for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), including for the side agreements on environmental and labour co-operation. From 1993 to 1995, Mr. Weekes served as Senior Assistant Deputy Minister with responsibility for managing Canada’s relations with the United States. In this position, he was responsible for managing the implementation of NAFTA, including providing advice to business on how to take maximum advantage of the opportunities that NAFTA afforded. He was also charged with responsibility for a range of specific cross-border problems and challenges, including the softwood lumber dispute.

His Geneva experience also included an assignment as Ambassador to GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) during the Uruguay Round multilateral trade negotiations. He was Chair of the GATT Council in 1989 and then of the GATT Contracting Parties in 1990. Mr. Weekes has also served as Chair of the Uruguay Round negotiating group dealing with the reform of various GATT provisions. He was a member of Canada's negotiating team to the Tokyo Round of GATT negotiations in the 1970s.

Born in Toronto, Mr. Weekes holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree from the University of Toronto in political science and economics. He and his wife live in Geneva.