Brad McDonald is Deputy Chief for Trade Policy in the IMF External Policies Division, where he is responsible for IMF-wide policy and guidance on global trade policy issues and advises IMF country teams. Among other projects, he was the IMF lead on joint IMF-WB-WTO policy papers in 2017 (Making Trade an Engine of Growth for All: The Case for Trade and for Policies to Facilitate Adjustment) and 2018 (Reinvigorating Trade and Inclusive Growth). Since joining the IMF in 1997, he has also served on various IMF country teams in Europe, central Asia, and Africa; reviewed IMF lending programs for low-income countries; and served as IMF Representative to the WTO.

As a member of the U.S. Government Senior Executive Service from 2013-16, Brad led the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Trade Policy and Financial Services Negotiations and represented Treasury on the inter-agency U.S. Trade Policy Staff Committee. He received Treasury’s Meritorious Service Award for contributions to the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and to the 2015 renewal of Trade Promotion Authority.

Before joining the IMF, Brad was a Trade Policy Analyst in the GATT and WTO Secretariat (1993-96), where he prepared Trade Policy Reviews and contributed to the Secretariat’s numerical analysis of the effects of the Uruguay Round. He was previously an agricultural economist in the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Agricultural Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.