Event Calendar

Start Date: 1/25/2022 12:00 PM EST
End Date: 1/25/2022 1:00 PM EST

Venue Name: Virtual

Organization Name: WIIT

Please join WIIT for a discussion with Brenda Smith who recently retired as the Executive Assistant Commissioner of Trade, at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). In her remarkable career leading CBP’s Trade Mission, Brenda has overseen trade enforcement, responding to evolving security threats, and led the agency’s efforts to digitize trade processes. Her long career has meant that Brenda has been at the forefront of guiding the agency through many opportunities and challenges brought on by developments in international trade such as the rapid uptick in e-commerce trade, recent tariff actions such as the S.232 and 301 duties, increased focus on ethical sourcing, the pandemic and current supply chain bottlenecks. We will discuss the impact of these events on the agency as well as implications for the agency going forward.

Featuring Brenda Smith, Retired Executive Assistant Commissioner of Trade, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP)

Moderated by Emily Beline, Senior Counsel, Regulatory Affairs, FedEx

Introductory remarks by Moushami P. Joshi, International Trade Attorney, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 

Closing remarks by Lydia Pardini,  Associate, Adduci Mastriani & Schaumberg LLP 

Bios: 

Brenda Smith recently completed a 34-year career with the US government, which included five years on Capitol Hill, and experience at the Department of Treasury and US Customs and Border Protection.  She was a member of the Senior Executive Service for fourteen years. 
 
Ms. Smith served as the Executive Assistant Commissioner of Trade, at US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from 2014 until 2021.  In this role, she led CBP’s Trade mission, overseeing trade enforcement, security, and facilitation matters to enable legitimate trade, contribute to American economic prosperity, and protect against risk to public health and safety.  Her work included enforcement of over 5—US trade laws and 14 trade agreements with 20 countries.  She oversaw national compliance audits, management of trade data and CBP’s regulatory process for administering trade and border operations.  She partnered with CBP’s IT experts to expand trade automation and analytics technologies through agile user-based processes and change management.
 
Ms. Smith held a variety of roles at CBP overseeing trade and border enforcement issues.  As Executive Director for the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Business Office, she was responsible for digitization of trade processes on behalf of 50 government agencies for 50,000 private sector and government users.  She also served as Executive Director for Trade Policy and Programs, the Director of Policy and Programs in the Office of International Affairs and Trade Relations, and led the CBP Commissioner’s Strategic Planning and Performance Division.  Prior to joining Customs, Ms. Smith worked at the Department of the Treasury and on Capitol Hill.
  
Ms. Smith was a 2017 finalist in the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America (“Sammie”) Award for Management Excellence.  She received the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award, given to the top 1% of government senior executives, for enhancing enforcement of trade laws to protect American business and consumers, and aligning customs procedures with modern business practices to enhance US economic competitiveness.  

She is currently Global Director of Government Outreach at Expeditors, a global logistics company, and is a WIIT Board member.

Emily Beline is a Senior Attorney for International Regulatory Affairs with FedEx.  In this capacity, she represents FedEx in regulatory and trade matters with an emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region.  Emily advocates for FedEx before various U.S. government agencies, international fora, and collaboratively with other industry stakeholders. Emily also serves as the current President of WIIT.
 
Emily joined FedEx after several years with the U.S. Federal Government. From 2013 until 2016 Emily worked in Regulations & Rulings, Office of Trade, U.S. Customs & Border Protection.  There, she authored binding administrative decisions on customs and trade laws, including tariff classification, eligibility for preference under the NAFTA and other free trade agreements, country of origin, marking, and labeling, as well as penalties.  After CBP, Emily was an Attorney with the Office of the Chief Counsel for Trade Enforcement and Compliance with the International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.  During her tenure, she counseled her client on the enforcement and administration of U.S. antidumping and countervailing duty laws and defended the agency before the U.S. Court of International Trade.  

Prior to joining the U.S. Federal Government, Emily was a Trade Policy Officer with the Embassy of Canada in Washington D.C. As a representative of the Government of Canada in the United States, Emily provided legal, technical, and strategic analysis on matters involving customs and trade to Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S., governmental officials in Ottawa, Members of Parliament, and key Canadian industry stakeholders.  

Moushami P. Joshi is an international trade attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP where she advises sovereign governments and private clients in all aspects of international trade law with an emphasis on trade remedies and WTO disputes, law and policy. She serves as the Co-VP of Programming and Co-Chair of the WTO Section at WIIT. 


Lydia Pardini is an associate at Adduci Mastriani & Schaumberg LLP where she counsels manufacturers and importers regarding issues at the intersection of unfair trade and trade remedies proceedings, import regulatory compliance, and international trade policy. She is the Co-chair of the Supply Chains section at WIIT.