Analysis, Advice, Solutions, and Commentary
Expertise:
Global Procurement and Trade Policy
International Trade Agreements and the World Trade Organization
U.S. and Foreign Procurement Measures
Principal: Jean Heilman Grier
35 years experience in international trade
Lawyer, Negotiator, and Adviser
Former Senior Procurement Negotiator, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
The Djaghe Trade Blog, Perspectives on Trade, provides regular analysis and commentary on timely topics.
The European Union’s (EU) 27 member states agreed on June 2, 2025 to prohibit purchases of medical devices from China for five years in retaliation for China’s refusal to open its own tenders to EU firms. The ban is expected to affect contracts worth approximately €5 million (US$5.2 million) over the next five years. This post reviews the EU’s first use of..
Government procurement required 40 years and substantial efforts to become part of the international trade regime, even though it comprises a significant part of the global economy. Typically, procurement represents 15% to 20% of global Gross Domestic Product. However, procurement is a politically sensitive activity.
David Alan Grier is the Digital Technology and Communications Principal at Djaghe LLC. He has over 35 years of experience working in private industry, universities, and professional societies.
In publications, he was the editor-in-chief of two magazines published by the Computer Society of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He served as Director of its magazine group, Publisher for the Computer Society, and a member of the IEEE Press Committee. He has been a columnist or contributing editor for many periodicals, including Computer Magazine, Consumer Electronics Magazine, IEEE Annals, and The Communications of the Chinese Computing Federation (published in Mandarin). He has authored five books, including When Computers Were Human (Princeton University Press, 2005), and produced numerous podcasts, such as “The Known World,” “The Errant Hashtag,” and “The CrowdPod.” Full list of his publications.
In Academe, he was an associate professor at the George Washington University, where he served as Assistant Dean of Engineering, Associate Dean of International Affairs, and Director of the Interdisciplinary Honors Program. He holds a PhD in Mathematical Statistics from the University of Washington and an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Middlebury College.
In Industry, he began his career as a software engineer for Burroughs Computer Corporation. He has worked as a consultant to technology firms, helped to organize the Crowdsortium Trade Association, and served as Director of Global Policy for the IEEE. He was also the President of the Computer Society.
In the Performing Arts, he served on the Board of Trustees of the Shakespeare Theatre (Washington, DC) and has consulted with other performing arts organizations on issues of technology and management. He has also authored and produced audio dramas, including A Bustle, A Corset, & The London Necropolis Express and Add Subtract Unite Divide.
Jean Heilman Grier is the International Trade Principal at Djaghe LLC. She has over 35 years of experience in international trade as a trade negotiator, lawyer, adviser, and consultant.
At Djaghe LLC, she advises businesses, organizations, and governments on a wide variety of international procurement and trade issues. Her expertise includes global procurement, trade policy, U.S. trade laws, international trade agreements, and trade negotiations. She is the author of The International Procurement System: Liberalization & Protectionism (Dalston Press, 2022) and numerous other publications on international procurement and other trade topics. Since 2013, she has written the blog, Perspectives on Trade.
At the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, she served as Senior Procurement Negotiator. In that role, she led the development of trade policy related to public procurement and negotiations for the United States on the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement and procurement chapters in numerous free trade agreements across the globe, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
At the U.S. Department of Commerce, she served as Senior Counsel for Trade Agreements. In that position, she engaged in a broad range of international trade issues, including the negotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement and numerous bilateral agreements with Japan. She also participated in anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations, as well as investigations conducted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.
Prior to entering the U.S. government, she was an Assistant Attorney General with the State of Minnesota. In that Office, she served as Chief of the Public Utilities Division, representing the State in electric, gas, and telecommunications rate cases, Chief of the Consumer Protection Division, litigating consumer fraud cases, and as the first attorney for the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board.
She received law degrees from the University of Minnesota (J.D.) and the University of Washington (LL.M in Asian Law) and an undergraduate degree in Political Science from South Dakota State University. As a Fulbright Scholar at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, she conducted research in Japanese administrative law. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar.