Charles H. Blum has served as President of International Advisory Services group, Ltd. since its founding in 1988. Earlier, he had a 17-year career in the U.S. Government at the State Department and the Office of the U.S Trade Representative.
For more than a quarter century, Mr. Blum has played a leading role in the formulation and implementation of American foreign and international trade policy. At State, he served as a political, labor, and economics officer, earning the Department’s superior honor award in 1978. At USTR, he rose to the rank of Assistant USTR for Industry (1983-5) and then for Multilateral Negotiations (1985-8). In those positions, he negotiated more than 20 bilateral steel agreements, Spain’s accession to the GATT Subsidies Code, access for general aviation aircraft to the Indonesian market, and the launch of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. He developed and implemented a global program of public diplomacy in support of the Uruguay Round.
At IAS, he has monitored and influenced steel developments for a number of clients in the U.S. and abroad. One of his advocacy projects for the Steel Service Center Institute was recognized as the outstanding lobbying campaign of the year by the American Society of Association Executives. His work rests on a unique understanding of the interplay of commercial, technical, political and legal factors in sectors such as steel.
Mr. Blum has delivered or prepared testimony to Congressional committees and Executive Branch agencies. He is a frequent speaker to industry groups on a range of trade topics. He has been quoted in major national papers and the trade press and has appeared on television in four countries.
Mr. Blum earned a B.A., magna cum laude, in history from Eastern College in 1966 and an M.A. in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania in 1970. He also studied at the University of the Americas in Mexico City and graduated with distinction from the State Department’s intensive economics training course. Mr. Blum is fluent in Spanish.