Nate Olson

Note: This is the biography page of a former staff member, affiliate, etc., and may not be current.

Nate Olson is director of the Trade21 program at the Stimson Center. He leads a number of research and outreach efforts that aim to better align the global economy’s regulatory frameworks, private sector business models, and the public interest agenda.

Olson often collaborates with stakeholders in government, industry, and civil society, both in the U.S. and abroad. He is a member of several public-private initiatives to address issues spanning trade policy, transnational crime, and private sector compliance and due diligence frameworks. He comments frequently on trade and public policy issues at public events and in various media. His current areas of interest include the substantive and institutional scope of trade regimes; cyber governance and the digital economy; international tax issues, including relevant aspects of OECD/G20 proposals and the EU’s “state aid” investigations; the “responsible business conduct” agenda; and medium- and long-term strategies of global firms.

Olson led a landmark Stimson collaboration on trade issues with hundreds of senior industry leaders and practitioners from the manufacturing, financial services, and transport/logistics sectors. Together they identified targeted steps for businesses and policymakers to enhance both economic competitiveness and the security and resilience of global value chains. The effort served as the basis for a widely acclaimed report endorsed by a senior-level Stimson task force that was managed by Olson and composed of private sector experts and former government officials.

Olson previously served as Director of Government Relations for the Project on National Security Reform.

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