Stephen P. Vaughn is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. Vaughn is a partner at King & Spalding LLP, where he works primarily on international trade litigation and policy. Prior to assuming this position, he served as general counsel to the Office of the US Trade Representative from 2017 to 2019, managing a team of attorneys in trade litigation and negotiation. He also briefly served as acting US trade representative from March to May 2017.
At the Office of the US Trade Representative, Vaughn was directly involved in negotiations over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, actions taken against China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, and efforts to revise the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement. Before entering government, Vaughn worked for Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP for over twenty years, starting as a junior associate and rising to counsel. At Skadden, he worked in the firm’s International Trade Practice under former US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer for fifteen years.
The Washingtonian named Vaughn one of the five hundred most influential people shaping policy in both 2025 and 2026, and he is recognized as a leading practitioner in trade remedies and trade policy by Legal 500 U.S., Chambers USA, and Chambers Global.
Vaughn grew up in Paducah, Kentucky. He graduated summa cum laude with dual majors in history and economics from Vanderbilt University and holds a JD from Yale Law School.
