Melinda St. Louis

Global Trade Watch Director, Public Citizen

Melinda St. Louis is the director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. Since working alongside labor unions and farmer organizations in Nicaragua fighting for fair trade policies more than two decades ago, St. Louis has developed deep expertise in trade and globalization issues and fought for progressive alternatives to corporate globalization that benefit people and the planet. She provides expert analysis of technical trade agreement provisions and implications for domestic policymaking to Congress and high-level government officials, the press, and civil society partners in the U.S. and around the globe and has helped lead successful campaigns to stop the corporate agenda of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, advance official discussions at the World Trade Organization about financial regulation, and support governments exiting from harmful investment treaties. She is a committed coalition builder, nurturing numerous global South-North coalitions, as well as broad and deep coalitions across the U.S., working cross-culturally to build trust, plan together, and implement coordinated strategic actions to challenge corporate power.

She is available to discuss the impact of trade and investment agreements on wide-ranging domestic issues, including medicine pricing, financial deregulation, human rights, workers’ rights, environmental protection, and food safety. Prior to her current position at Public Citizen, she designed and led the organization’s Medicare for All campaign and directed international campaigning at Global Trade Watch. Before joining Public Citizen, she was policy director at the Jubilee USA Network, leading faith-based efforts to cancel debt and reform international financial institutions, and executive director of Witness for Peace, where she led efforts to reform U.S. economic, military and immigration policy toward Latin America. She earned an M.P.P. in international policy and development from Georgetown University and a B.A. in international politics and Spanish at Penn State University, where she graduated at the top of her class.

She has appeared or been quoted in dozens of U.S. and international television, radio, and print media outlets.