Why She Matters
The daughter of Filipino immigrants and a Washington socialite, Sevilla serves as deputy assistant U.S. Trade Representative, Office of Small Business, Market Access and Industrial Competitiveness.(1)
Sevilla previously served as deputy assistant USTR for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison, where she was responsible for outreach to state and local governments on trade matters including NAFTA and participation in the WTO. (2) She also managed the office’s private-sector trade advisory committees, a system comprising dozens of committees that together advise executive branch agencies and the president on trade policy.
Articles Sevilla has written on trade policy have been published in National Interest, the Berkeley Journal of International Law, and the State Department’s Economic Perspectives journal. (3)
She is also a singer and keyboardist for the well-known DC rock band “Suspicious Package.”
In Her Own Words
“Countries that are open to trade tend to have more wealth, healthier populations, higher rates of education and literacy, stronger labor rights and environmental standards, and greater investment opportunities,” Sevilla wrote in 2007. (4)
Sevilla was born in the U.S. to Richard and June Sevilla,(5) who immigrated from the Phillipines. She was raised in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. (6) Sevilla graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Boston College, where she studied political science. She received her Ph.D in political science from Harvard University in 1998, and went on to teach at Harvard as a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in Transnational Economic Security at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
At Harvard, Sevilla wrote her doctoral dissertation about how the design of international institutions affects the dispute process once multilateral trade complaints are raised.(5) She argued that within the WTO/GATT trade system, the various costs for governments to file complaints affects state behavior by influencing the domestic incentives for overseeing multilateral treaties.
In 2002 under President George W. Bush, Sevilla was named the U.S. head of delegation for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) Civil Society Committee. That committee was responsible for communication and outreach by the 34 FTAA countries to consumers, businesses, special interests and sub-federal governments.(7)
Sevilla lectures at George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs, and has held fellowships from the European Community Studies Association and the Ford Foundation. (8)
The Issues
Sevilla has advocated for open, liberalized trade as a means to create wealth, motivate business, promote development and support environmental preservation.
“It is imperative to expand new markets abroad in order to distribute the gains from trade yet to be realized to the hundreds of millions who seek greater freedom, opportunity, and a path out of poverty,” Sevilla wrote in the Berkeley Journal of International Law in 2007. “The United States stands ready to dismantle remaining trade barriers, as others do the same, and create new trade flows that will benefit large and small businesses, workers, farmers, and families.” (9)
Trade barriers, she wrote in Economic Perspectives in 2007, may “shield narrow special interests from competition, but ultimately they leave a nation as a whole worse off in terms of wealth foregone, slower growth, and, hence, fewer resources to address pressing societal needs.” (10)
In 2004, during the aftermath of successful FTAA negotiations in Miami in November 2003, Sevilla detailed the U.S. three-level trade policy.
“The ‘competitive liberalization’ strategy is intended to move the U.S. trade agenda forward concurrently on multiple fronts – globally in the WTO, regionally through negotiations such as FTAA, and bilaterally through a series of free-trade agreements,” Sevilla wrote.(11) She argued that the multi-pronged approach, and individual agreements with countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America could protect trade momentum, so that blockage in one forum doesn’t preclude progress in opening markets and establishing rules of commerce in other areas.
During a 2008 trip to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Sevilla praised Cambodian improvements in economic transparency, but called for the southeast Asian nation to implement commitments to the World Trade Organization and enforce intellectual-property rights in order to encourage business confidence. (12)
The Network
Sevilla makes frequent appearances on the Washington social scene and cocktail party circuit. (13) (14) (15) (16) She was named a 2009 “Style Setter” by Washingtonian Magazine, which lauded her vast collection of vintage dresses from the 1950s-1970s and jewelry from around the world. (17)
“She’s not afraid of color, the way some people in DC are,” wrote Nancy Trejos. “She’s got a really creative, daring vibe.”
She is a regular at the Diplomatic Finnish Sauna Society of D.C., which hosts Washington power-brokers for evening sauna sessions in the basement of the Finnish Embassy. (18)
Sevilla is also a singer and keyboardist for “Suspicious Package,” a rock band that plays embassy events, weddings and Washington-area events.(19) Also in the band are investigative reporter Tim Burger (bass guitar), HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary Bryan Greene (guitar and vocals), Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles (drums) and Josh Meyer of the Medill National Security Journalism Initiative (guitar and vocals).(20)
At Harvard University, Sevilla’s dissertation committee was made up of Robert O. Keohane, now a professor of international affairs at Princeton University; James E. Alt, a current Harvard professor; and political scientist Lisa L. Martin.(5)
Footnotes
1. Correspondence with Office of the United States Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President. November 8, 2010.
2. Part-time faculty biography, Elliott School of International Affairs web site, Accessed November 3, 2010
3. Wisconsin School of Business/CIBER web site, “Free Trade Agreements: Current Trends in Policy and Practice speakers bio”, Accessed November 5, 2010.
4. Sevilla, Christina R., Economic Perspectives, “Why Liberalize Trade?” January 2007, 12:1.
5. Sevilla, Christina R., The Politics of Enforcing GATT/WTO Rules,” Harvard University doctoral dissertation, May 1998.
6. National Forum on Trade Policy bio, Duke University web site, December 2004.
7. Part-time faculty biography, Elliott School of International Affairs web site, Accessed November 3, 2010.
8. National Forum on Trade Policy bio, Duke University web site, December 2004.
9. Sevilla, Christina R. Berkeley Journal of International Law, “The WTO Doha Development Agenda: What is at Stake,” September 1, 2007.
10. Sevilla, Christina R., Economic Perspectives, “Why Liberalize Trade?” January 2007, 12:1.
11. Sevilla, Christina R., National Interest, Can the United States and Brazil Spur Free Trade in the Americas?” January 7, 2004.
12. U.S. Embassy Phnom Penh web site, “Deputy USTR Dr. Christina Sevilla praises Cambodia for increase in economic transparency,” August 13, 2008.
13. BisNow’s The Scene, “Vive La France!,” Accessed November 7, 2010.
14. Franke-Ruta, Garance, Politerati/WhoRunsGov, “Washington Review of Book Parties: ‘Raising Eyebrows,” October 22, 2010.
15. Washingtonian, “Washingtonian Style Setters Party,” Accessed November 6, 2010.
16. MediaBistro web site, “Christina Sevilla Profile,” Accessed November 7, 2010.
17. Trejos, Nancy, Washingtonian, “Style Setters 2009: Christina Sevilla,” October 1, 2009.
18. Horowitz, Jason, Washington Post, “At Finnish Embassy, The Heat is On,” March 18, 2010.
19. Dornic, Matt, Fishbowl DC, “Your Daily ‘Suspicious Package’ Post, March 30, 2010.
20. Politico Click, Tim Burger bio, Accessed November 7, 2010.