Michael Gifford

Michael Gifford was Canada’s chief agricultural trade negotiator. He was Director General of Canada’s Trade Policy Department for Agriculture and Agri-food, handling all aspects of Canada’s bilateral and multilateral agricultural trade policy. He also worked for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade where he acted as the Canadian agricultural negotiator in the Canada/US Free Trade Agreement, the North America Free Trade Agreement, the Canada/New Zealand and Canada/Australia Trade Agreements and the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations. Mr. Gifford was also the negotiator in the Tokyo Round of GATT negotiations, served as Chairman of the GATT International Meat Council and represented Canada on the GATT Agricultural Committee during the Uruguay Round. He has been involved in agricultural trade policy capacity-building projects in Egypt, China, Africa and Russia. He also served as a consultant to the WTO and as a member of the WTO dispute settlement panel.

He holds a B.Sc. in agricultural economics from Macdonald College, McGill University, along with a M.A. in agricultural economics from the University of Chicago.