Exploring the Future of US Economic Strategy with Peter Harrell of the NSC

On August 25, 2021, the Meridian Corporate Council in collaboration with Gilead Sciences hosted a roundtable discussion with Mr. Peter Harrell, Special Assistant to the President and National Security Council Senior Director – International Economics and Competitiveness. This event was moderated by Ambassador Stuart Holliday, Chief Executive Officer of Meridian and focused discussion on the Biden Administration’s economic strategy, supply chain resilience, and the upcoming G7 summit.

Mr. Peter Harrell serves as Special Assistant to the President and the Senior Director for International Economics and Competitiveness on the White House National Security Council (NSC) staff for the Biden Administration. Harrell is a former Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He is a leading expert on U.S. economic statecraft, including sanctions, export controls, trade policy, and other geo-economic tools.

Throughout the event, Mr. Peter Harrell emphasized the importance of private sector engagement with the NSC to create comprehensive economic policies and to address the matter of American supply chain resilience more aptly. He further explained the Biden Administration’s evolutionary approach to strategic economic policy highlighting that these policies would be rolled out continuously as they are finalized rather than all at once. Mr. Harrell expressed that this approach would create more developed policies and allow for greater participation from private sector stakeholders.