Robert S. LaRussa

Robert S. LaRussa, Principal

Bob has an extraordinary range of experience in international trade and national security law. He has been involved in almost every significant trade issue facing the United States for the past several decades, has held some of the highest-ranking international trade positions in the US Government and has represented private-sector clients in a wide range of industries—including steel, semiconductors, energy, clean energy, defense, aerospace, telecommunications, infrastructure and agriculture. He counsels clients in all types of trade cases, including Section 201, Section 232, Section 301, export controls, antidumping and Customs, and has represented scores of clients in national CFIUS national security reviews.

Bob also teaches undergraduate and graduate seminars on international trade and national security at the University of Massachusetts School of Public Policy. Among other subjects, his classes focus on the US-China technology cold war; the impact of trade and national security-related disputes on supply chains, commodity and downstream manufacturers, US exporters and consumers; and, the effectiveness of US trade laws and WTO rules. See more information here.

Bob spent more than two decades practicing national security and international trade law for the global law firm Shearman & Sterling before starting Navigating Washington. He represented some of the firm’s most important international trade clients and developed the firm’s CFIUS practice, which he later expanded to include export controls.

Prior to that he held three prominent international trade positions in the US Government and served as international trade counsel for the future chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, where he focused on issues related to US trade laws, manufacturing and the auto sector. Bob was confirmed by the US Senate as the US Commerce Department’s Under Secretary for International Trade, one of the US Government’s highest-ranking international trade positions. As undersecretary, he signed digital commerce agreements, expanded the use of technology in export promotion and tightened the agency’s focus on trade enforcement, especially regarding China. He previously served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Commerce Department’s US and Foreign Commercial Service, where he focused on increasing US exports to the then-emerging markets of ASEAN, Mexico, and South America. Bob also served as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Import Administration, where he was in charge of administering US antidumping and countervailing duty trade laws, as well as drafting the implementing regulations for the statutes governing those trade remedies. As assistant secretary, Bob negotiated a comprehensive steel agreement with Russia and antidumping agreements with China, Ukraine, Brazil and Mexico.

Disclaimer: Navigating Washington LLP is a limited liability partnership comprised of Robert S. LaRussa & Associates LLC, providing legal services, and Navigating Washington Consulting LLC, providing advisory services, all organized under the laws of the State of Maryland.