News & Insights

Washington DC– The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) announced today that Vanessa Sciarra will join the organization as Vice President for Legal Affairs and Trade & Investment Policy, effective November 1st. In her new role she will be responsible for a wide range of matters related to trade and investment policy, international trade agreements and international dispute settlement.

Ms. Sciarra has a long and distinguished record as a lawyer in both the U.S. government and the private sector. She served as an Assistant General Counsel with Office of the United States Trade Representative and as a trial attorney with the Civil Division of the Department of Justice. She was also a partner in the trade law practice of the Washington, DC law office of Cassidy Levy Kent. Immediately prior to joining NFTC, she served as Vice President of the Emergency Committee for American Trade (ECAT).

In announcing her appointment, NFTC President Rufus Yerxa said, “Vanessa is a highly respected and experienced trade lawyer who will significantly strengthen our trade team at NFTC. She has been a leading player in the work of the U.S. Coalition for TPP and in other recent trade policy debates. She also brings to us great knowledge and experience from her days as a USTR lawyer working on NAFTA and the Uruguay Round, as well as her many years as a private lawyer involved in a wide range of international trade and investment issues. We are very excited to have Vanessa join us. She will be a key member of my leadership team and a major asset to NFTC and its members.”

Ms. Sciarra’s full biography is below:

Vanessa P. Sciarra is the Vice President for Legal Affairs & Trade and Investment Policy at the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), a leading Washington DC based trade association dedicated to advancing the interests of U.S. based companies in matters ranging from trade agreements and international tax issues to sanctions policy and human resource management.

Immediately prior to joining NFTC Ms. Sciarra served as Vice President at the Emergency Committee for American Trade (ECAT), where she played a key role in the effort to gain approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Prior to that she was a Partner with the Washington DC law firm of Cassidy Levy Kent LLP. Her practice included a broad range of international trade matters representing a diverse group of clients in the manufacturing, pharmaceutical, medical devices, trucking and shipping sectors. She advised these clients in the areas of customs, export controls, and economic sanctions compliance as well as antidumping and countervailing duty cases. She routinely appeared before the key U.S. trade agencies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Prior to entering private practice, Ms. Sciarra served as an Assistant General Counsel with Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) in Washington, D.C. While in that position, she worked on the negotiation and implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), particularly with respect to services, investment and dispute settlement obligations. She also served as legal counsel during the negotiation of the General Agreement on Trade Services (GATS) and participated in the drafting of the Uruguay Round implementing bill.

Prior to her work at USTR, Ms. Sciarra was a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Division. In this position, she represented the U.S. government in cases involving the antidumping and countervailing duty laws, customs matters, and government contracts. She regularly briefed and argued cases before the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Ms. Sciarra is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of International Trade and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. She is also a member of the Customs and International Trade Bar Association. She earned her B.A., summa cum laude, in History from Yale College, her M.Sc., with distinction, in Economics (International Relations) from the London School of Economics, and her J.D. from the Yale Law School.