The organization has come under much scrutiny and criticism by political activists and academics working in the social and political sciences. The Trilateral Commission has found its way into a number of conspiracy theories.

Some people who are or have been members:

• Georges Berthoin
• Zbigniew Brzezinski
• Jimmy Carter
• Gerhard Casper
• Dick Cheney
• Bill Clinton
• Thomas Foley
• Henry Kissinger
• Otto Graf Lambsdorff
• Jorge Braga de Macedo
• Kiichi Miyazawa
• Akio Morita
• David Rockefeller
• Peter Sutherland
• Paul Volcker
• Isamu Yamashita