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Georgetown Americas Institute

September 9, 2025

Why Does Trade Multilateralism Remain Important?

A Conversation with WTO Deputy Director-General Johanna Hill

Event Series: GEO-LAC: Latin America in the New Geoeconomic Order

RSVP Required
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With growing geopolitical tensions, shifting alliances, technological disruptions, and rising protectionism, understanding the emerging geoeconomic order is critical for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Georgetown Americas Institute (GAI) is proud to launch GEO-LAC: Latin America in the New Geoeconomic Order, a new dialogue series that explores the complex and evolving landscape of global trade, investment, supply chains, and economic alliances—placing Latin America at the center of the conversation.

Hosted by the institute’s Latin America in the Global Economy program and hosted by Nicolás Albertoni and Antoni Estevadeordal, this series will bring together high-level policymakers, scholars, and practitioners for in-depth conversations about the challenges and opportunities shaping the global trade and investment landscape today. At a time when the international system is under stress, and calls for economic sovereignty are reshaping traditional alliances, these talks aim to offer clarity, insight, and informed debate on the paths forward.

The GEO-LAC series will address relevant themes for the region, including: 

  • The reorganization of global supply chains
  • Relations with strategic partners in North America, Europe, Asia, and other emerging economies
  • Opportunities and risks from the new emerging technologies 
  • The region’s role in a shifting structure of global alliances
  • The future of trade agreements and open markets during growing protectionism 
  • Geoeconomics and security: trade and investment as tools of power 

This inaugural episode of GEO-LAC will feature Johanna Hill, deputy director-general of the World Trade Organization, in a conversation about the ongoing relevance of multilateralism in trade governance. In a world that increasingly flirts with fragmentation, Hill will reflect on why rules-based systems still matter, how Latin America and the Caribbean can play a constructive role in revitalizing them, and what future paths exist for inclusive, cooperative trade. This discussion will be conducted in Spanish and moderated by Nicolás Albertoni and Antoni Estevadeordal.

Featuring

Nicolás Albertoni is a visiting fellow at the Georgetown Americas Institute. He previously served as vice minister of foreign affairs of Uruguay from 2022 to 2025. He has authored several articles and books on Latin America Development and Integration, including Trade Protectionism in an Uncertain and Interconnected Global Economy (Routledge, 2024). Albertoni has two Ph.D.s and three master’s degrees (one from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service) in the areas of political science, economics, and international relations. He is also an alumnus of the Global Competitiveness Leadership Program (2012) at Georgetown University. In 2021, he received the Order of Arete from the University of Southern California, the highest honor accorded for an academic contribution. In 2023, he was recognized by the Club of Madrid as one of the 30 decision-makers and leaders around the world, and in 2018, he was included in the list of Global Americans New Generation of Public Intellectuals.

Antoni Estevadeordal is a resident fellow at the Georgetown Americas Institute, where he leads the project “Latin America in the Global Economy,” and senior research fellow at the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI). He previously held senior roles at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), including IDB representative in Europe, head of the IDB Migration Initiative, and manager of the Integration and Trade Sector. His expertise spans international development, trade and investment policy, and regional integration. He has published extensively in major journals and authored several books. He served as a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on the Future of Logistics, and has also taught at leading universities in Spain, the United States, and China. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in economics from the University of Barcelona.

Johanna Hill is a deputy director-general at the World Trade Organization, a position she assumed in November 2023. With over 30 years of experience in international trade, Hill, a native of El Salvador, has collaborated with governments and businesses to foster economic development through international policy and trade negotiations. Before joining the WTO, Hill advised firms and small- and medium-sized enterprises on trade regulations, foreign direct investment strategies, and market access. She has also held senior roles in financial institutions and has leadership experience in telecommunications regulation. Additionally, she served as vice minister of economy for El Salvador, where she oversaw trade policy formulation and negotiated both bilateral and multilateral trade agreements. In her role as deputy director-general, Hill leads the WTO’s work on economic research and statistics, digital trade, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, trade in services and investment, and documentation and information management. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a master’s degree from Columbia University and serves on the board of TradeExperettes.