Christopher Landau

Christopher Thomas Landau (born November 13, 1963) is an American lawyer and diplomat who has served as the United States deputy secretary of state since 2025. He previously served as the United States ambassador to Mexico from 2019 to 2021.

Landau studied law at Harvard University, after he graduated he clerked for several justices of the Supreme Court where he has argued several cases on behalf of. After being confirmed as United States ambassador to Mexico, he was sworn in by a justice he clerked for.

In December 2024, President-elect Trump nominated Landau to serve as the United States deputy secretary of state in his second administration.

Early life and education

Landau was born in Madrid, Spain, where his father, George Landau (later United States Ambassador to Paraguay, Chile, and Venezuela), was then stationed with the Foreign Service. His father, who was Jewish, was born in Vienna and fled to South America after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. Landau was raised Catholic.

Landau attended the American School of Asunción, Paraguay, for five years. He is fluent in Spanish and proficient in French, which he learned from childhood.

Landau graduated from Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts, in 1981. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in history, summa cum laude, from Harvard College in 1985, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year, earned a Certificate in Latin American Studies, and received the Sophia Freund Prize for the highest grade point average in his graduating class. He wrote his senior thesis, which was awarded the Hoopes Prize, on United States relations with the leftist government of Venezuela in the mid 1940s. He received his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1989, where he was articles co-chair of the Harvard Law Review and won the Sears Prize for the highest grade-point average in his second year.

Landau is related to Israeli sculptor Sigalit Landau.

Legal career

After graduating from law school, Landau clerked for then-judge Clarence Thomas of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He later clerked for Justices Antonin Scalia and Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1990 and 1991 Terms, respectively. During the former clerkship, Landau was co-clerk with Lawrence Lessig; during the latter clerkship, he was co-clerks with Gregory G. Katsas, Gregory E. Maggs and Stephen R. McAllister.

In 1993, Landau joined Kirkland & Ellis as an associate, becoming a partner in 1995. He was chairman of the firm's appellate practice until he left after 25 years to join Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in 2018. He has argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including two on behalf of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and has briefed and argued appeals in all of the U.S. Courts of Appeals.

From 1994 to 1995, Landau was an adjunct professor of administrative law at the Georgetown University Law Center. In 2017, the Chief Justice of the United States appointed him to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. Landau served as a Trustee of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society, and Chair of the Society's Programs Committee. He was also a Director of the Diplomacy Center Foundation, which supports the United States Diplomacy Center at the United States Department of State.

Diplomatic career

United States ambassador to Mexico

On March 26, 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Landau as United States Ambassador to Mexico. On August 1, 2019, the Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination by voice vote. He was sworn into office on August 12, 2019, arrived in Mexico on August 16, 2019, and presented his credentials to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on August 26, 2019. As Ambassador, Landau made the issue of immigration a top policy priority.

On September 9, 2020, President Trump added Landau to a list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States. After Joe Biden succeeded Trump as President, Landau left his post as ambassador in 2021, and was replaced by former U.S. Senator from Colorado Ken Salazar.

Social media usage

As ambassador to Mexico, Landau was noted for his heavy usage of social media. In 2020, he launched a challenge on Twitter to boost his follower count in order to exceed the 150,000 followers boasted by the U.S. Ambassador to Greece, noting his follower count was only 40,000 despite Mexico's much larger population. Landau tweeted in Spanish "This is an outrage! … Mexico has to be #1!" By July 2020, Landau's follower count had exploded to 245,000, in what Slate described as providing "an unexpected lesson in American digital diplomacy."

In September 2020, Landau was accused of cyberbullying a Mexican college student who criticized him on Twitter. Landau replied by sarcastically saying "Obviously, your great education and knowledge of the world would allow you to do diplomatic work much better than the ‘rudimentary’ communications of this ‘white foreigner.' The student reportedly closed their account on Twitter following the exchange.

United States deputy secretary of state

Nomination

Christopher Landau was nominated to be Deputy Secretary of State by Donald Trump on December 8, 2024. On the day of his appointment, he declared that one of his priorities would be the relationship between the United States and Mexico. His appointment was welcomed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who said he had done a very good job as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico.

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 4, 2025, Landau supported the dismantling of USAID and proposed that it be replaced by private sector investment. He also asserted that China was the United States' main strategic competitor, and that they would have to work with their allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific, such as the members of ASEAN and QUAD. Landau called for a reduction in the US trade deficit. He also stated that he believes in the rule of law and will implement all laws passed by Congress. The Committee voted 16–6 in favor of his nomination on March 12, 2025. Landau won the support of some Democrats.

Tenure

On March 24, 2025 the Senate confirmed his nomination 60–31 and he was sworn in as the 23rd United States Deputy Secretary of State the following day. One of his first actions was a call on March 26, 2025 with the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Juan Ramón de la Fuente, in which Landau pledged to strengthen the bilateral relationship between their two countries. On the same day, he had a call with the Argentine Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein in which Landau praised Argentina's role in the region and its protection of political opponents of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.