On October 1, WITA hosted the Trade Around the World – U.S. Trade Initiatives panel as part of the 2024 WITA Academy Virtual Intensive Trade Seminar.

Featured Speakers:

Marjorie Chorlins, Senior Vice President, Europe, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Wendy Cutler, Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) Washington, D.C. Office; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Eric Farnsworth, Head of the Washington Office of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society

Florizelle Liser, President and CEO, Corporate Council on Africa

Moderator: Penny Naas, Lead, GMF Allied Competitiveness, German Marshall Fund

Speaker Biographies:

Marjorie A. Chorlins is the senior vice president for Europe at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She develops policies and executes programs related to trade and investment with Europe. With more than 30 years of experience in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, Chorlins has focused on forging consensus among competing points of view. She has represented the U.S. government in multilateral trade negotiations, advocated in support of global sales, consulted with multinational corporations on corporate responsibility, and helped foster a robust transatlantic relationship. Chorlins began her federal government service in the office of former Sen. John C. Danforth (R-MO), where she participated in drafting the 1988 Trade Act and the 1989 implementing legislation for the U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement. She continued her government service as principal deputy assistant secretary for Import Administration at the Department of Commerce, representing the U.S. in the GATT Uruguay Round and NAFTA negotiations. Chorlins then became director for international trade relations at Motorola Inc. She played a leadership role in early business community efforts to normalize U.S.-China commercial relations and was an early proponent of a balanced approach in addressing commercial, human rights, and environmental priorities. Subsequently, Chorlins served as executive vice president of Business for Social Responsibility, which provides technical assistance on socially responsible business practices. She later rejoined Motorola’s government relations organization as senior director of advocacy and global strategy, leveraging political resources to support the company’s international sales and resolve matters of strategic importance to the corporation. Chorlins also served as director of government and regulatory affairs at Lockheed Martin, where she managed the international portfolio and focused on export control reform and defense trade policy. Chorlins holds an M.A. in international relations and economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in French from Wellesley College.

Wendy Cutler is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington, D.C. office. In these roles, she focuses on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment, and innovation, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations, and the WTO Financial Services negotiations. She has published a series of ASPI papers on the Asian trade landscape and serves as a regular media commentator on trade and investment developments in Asia and the world.

Eric Farnsworth is the Head of the Washington office of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society. He leads with a passion for promoting the importance of the Western Hemisphere for U.S. economic, security, and strategic interests. A recognized expert, he maintains an important policy leadership and advocacy role across a broad range of issues, including U.S. relations, economic development, trade, and energy; Asia-Latin American relations and global governance; and security and democracy. He consults frequently with senior U.S. government and foreign officials and private sector leaders, is a widely sought conference speaker and media commentator, and publishes regularly in leading newspapers and journals.

Prior to the Council, Mr. Farnsworth served in government with the U.S. Department of State, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and Clinton White House. He also worked with U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA). His private sector experiences include ManattJones Global Strategies and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Corporation. He has been decorated by the Governments of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Spain, and is an elected Academic Correspondent of Uruguay.

Florizelle (Florie) Liser is the third President and CEO of CCA. Ms. Liser brings expertise and an extensive network on trade and Africa to her new role, along with a strong track record of working with the private sector to translate policy into action. She is the first woman to lead the Council since its founding in 1993. Ms. Liser joined CCA from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she was the Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Africa since 2003. At USTR, she led trade and investment policy towards 49 sub-Saharan African nations and oversaw implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Previously, Ms. Liser served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Industry, Market Access, and Telecommunications from 2000-2003. She also served as Senior Trade Policy Advisor in the Office of International Transportation and Trade at the Department of Transportation from 1987-2000; worked as a Director in USTR’s Office of GATT Affairs, and served as an Associate Fellow at the Overseas Development Council (ODC) from 1975-1980. Currently, Ms. Liser serves as a re-appointed member of the 2023-2024 Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee for the Export-Import Bank (EXIM) where she previously served from 2019-2021. Ms. Liser also served as co-chair of the Advisory Council for the Millennium Challenge Corporation and has also served as a Board member for the Women in International Trade (WIIT). Ms. Liser holds a M.A. in International Economics from Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and a B.A. in International Relations and Political Science from Dickinson College.

Penelope (Penny) Naas is a global public policy leader who designs strategies on international economic issues that sit at the nexus of geopolitics, trade, and climate. She is an adviser for TradeExperettes, a global organization of women trade experts.

Naas has created innovative strategies and solutions for Citigroup and, more recently, for UPS as its president for international public affairs and global sustainability. She opened and was managing director of Citigroup’s first government affairs office in Brussels between 2007 and 2012 before leading UPS’s international team from 2012 to 2019. She started her career at the US Department of Commerce, where she worked for 13 years on international economic issues and advancing the commercial interests of US companies in Europe.

Naas holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is on several boards and has co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Trade and Investment.

The post 2024 Virtual Intensive Trade Seminar: Trade Around the World – U.S. Trade Initiatives appeared first on WITA.

On January 26, leading journalists joined WITA to discuss global political, economic and trade trends for 2023.

Featured Speakers:

Bryce Baschuk, Reporter, Bloomberg News

David J. Lynch, Global Economics Correspondent, The Washington Post

Ana Swanson, Trade and International Economics Reporter, The New York Times

Moderator: John Miller, Chief Economic Analyst, Trade Data Monitor

Speaker Biographies:

Bryce Baschuk

David J. Lynch

Ana Swanson

John Miller

John W. Miller is Trade Data Monitor’s chief economist analyst, author of the TDM Insights column, and a former staff reporter at the Wall Street Journal, where he covered trade, mining, the Tour de France, and EU economics, among other topics. He directed the PBS film ‘Moundsville’ and is writing a book for Simon&Schuster about Earl Weaver and the role of the baseball manager.

The post The Trade Reporters on Trade Trends 2023 appeared first on WITA.

On Thursday, December 8, 2022, panelists joined WITA to discuss 20 notable global trends and risks for 2023.

Climate change. Food security. Political polarization. Great power friction. Supply chains and reshoring.  WITA was pleased to host noted “futurist” Robert Moran of Brunswick Group to discuss 20 notable global trends and risks for 2023, in a discussion with Edward Alden, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Featured Speakers:

Edward Alden, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations and Ross Distinguished Visiting Professor, Western Washington University

Robert Moran, Partner, Insight Global Lead, Brunswick Insight

Speaker Biographies

Edward Alden

Edward Alden is Bernard L. Schwartz senior fellow at the Council on Fore­­­ign Relations (CFR), specializing in U.S. economic competitiveness, trade, and immigration policy. He is the author of the book Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy, which focuses on the federal government’s failure to respond effectively to competitive challenges on issues such as trade, currency, worker retraining, education, and infrastructure.

Alden recently served as the project director of a CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force, co-chaired by former Michigan Governor John Engler and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, which produced the report The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills, and U.S. Leadership in the Twenty-First Century. In 2011, he was the project codirector of the Independent Task Force that produced U.S. Trade and Investment Policy. In 2009, he was the project director of the Independent Task Force that produced U.S. Immigration Policy.

Alden’s previous book, The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security Since 9/11, was a finalist for the Lukas Book Prize, for narrative nonfiction in 2009. The jury called Alden’s book “a masterful job of comprehensive reporting, fair-minded analysis, and structurally sound argumentation.”

Alden was previously the Washington bureau chief for the Financial Times, and prior to that was the newspaper’s Canada bureau chief, based in Toronto. He worked as a reporter at the Vancouver Sun and was the managing editor of the newsletter Inside U.S. Trade, widely recognized as a leading source of reporting on U.S. trade policies. Alden has won several national and international awards for his reporting. He has made numerous TV and radio appearances as an analyst on political and economic issues, including on the BBC, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, and PBS NewsHour. His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fortune, the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Toronto Globe and Mail, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Alden has a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of California, Berkeley. He pursued doctoral studies before returning to a journalism career. Alden is the winner of numerous academic awards, including a Mellon fellowship in the humanities and a MacArthur Foundation graduate fellowship.

Robert Moran

Robert Moran is Partner at the Insight Global Lead at Brunswick Insight. He leads Brunswick Insight, our global public opinion, market research and analytics function with research teams in New York, London, Washington, Dubai, Beijing, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Munich and Dallas.

Brunswick Insight provides intelligence for market-moving decisions by combining experienced, data-driven counsel with an emphasis on rapid research and analysis. Brunswick Insight converts research into strategic advice for communications programmes and campaigns.

Robert was previously President of StrategyOne’s US operations, Edelman’s strategic research consultancy. Prior to that, Robert was Vice President at Fabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates. He began his career at political polling giant Public Opinion Strategies.

Robert is a Partner in the Washington office. He is a published thought leader and frequent speaker on trends in public opinion and market research and frequently writes on future forward subjects. He has lectured at the National War College in Washington and is a frequent contributor on Huffington Post.

The post 20 Risks and Trends for 2023 appeared first on WITA.

On November 9, panelists joined WITA to discuss green industrial policy; how the U.S. is positioned to compete in this critical global marketplace; and where the U.S. will likely need to find international partners.

Over the past 18 months, the United States has passed several major pieces of legislation that contain environmental provisions with trade implications, including the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Act of 2021 and the CHIPS for America Act. How can U.S. industrial policies help the United States achieve its climate objectives? And how can such policies create opportunities for trade and other forms of international cooperation that could lead to greater and faster deployment of low-carbon technologies?

Featured Speakers:

Sophie Beckham, Chief Sustainability Officer, International Paper

Ryan Fitzpatrick, Director of the Climate and Energy Program, Third Way

Vanessa Sciarra, Vice President, Trade & International Competitiveness, American Clean Power Association

Moderator: Maureen Hinman, Co-Founder, Chairman, Silverado Policy Accelerator

Speaker Biographies

Sophie Beckham

Ryan Fitzpatrick

Vanessa Sciarra

Maureen Hinman

Maureen Hinman is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator. Ms. Hinman, a leading policy expert on the intersection of energy, environment, and the economy, most recently served as Director for Environment and Natural Resources at the Office of the United States Trade Representative. At USTR she led a range of multilateral, regional, and bilateral trade policy initiatives focused on the environmental goods and services sector as well as natural resource conservation. Ms. Hinman previously served as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s senior industry trade specialist responsible for international policy development and interagency advocacy for the U.S. environmental technology industry. Prior to entering federal service Hinman consulted on regional integration and trade policy implementation at Nathan Associates, a Washington-based economic policy consultancy. Ms. Hinman serves as a policy advisor for the Center for Climate and Trade. She was named a “2022 Tech Titan” by Washingtonian Magazine.

The post Green Industrial Policy and Trade appeared first on WITA.

On Monday, January 31st, and Tuesday, February 1st, 2022, WITA hosted its fourth annual Washington International Trade Conference (WITC). This conference brought together leaders in international trade from across the U.S. and around the world to explore the trade landscape and look toward the future of trade.

 Secretary-General Mathias Cormann, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Moderator: Ambassador Kristen Silverberg, President & COO, Business Roundtable; former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union 

Aik Hoe Lim, Director, Trade and Environment Division, World Trade Organization

Kelly K. Milton, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, Environment and Natural Resources

Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta, Costa Rica’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization, Co-Chair, Trade and Environmental Sustainability Structured Discussions (TESSD), World Trade Organization

Moderator: Sarah Stewart, Executive Director, Silverado Policy Accelerator; former Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative, Environment and Natural Resources

Angela Ellard, Deputy Director General, World Trade Organization

Moderator: Ambassador Rufus Yerxa, former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative; former Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization

Amy P. Celico, Principal Albright Stonebridge Group | Dentons Global Advisors; former Senior Director for China Affairs, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

Wendy Cutler, Vice President, Asia Society Policy Institute; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative

Bonnie Glaser, Director of the Asia Program, German Marshall Fund of the United States

Samm Sacks, Senior Fellow, Paul Tsai China Center & New America, Yale Law School

Moderator: Erin Ennis, Vice President, Global Public Policy, Dell Technologies

Ambassador Kirsten Hillman, Canadian Ambassador to the United States

Ambassador Tomita Koji, Japanese Ambassador to the United States

Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis, European Union Ambassador to the United States

Moderator: Ambassador Susan Schwab, Strategic Advisor, Mayer Brown LLP; former U.S. Trade Representative

Orit Frenkel, CEO, American Leadership Initiative

Ed Gresser, Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets, Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)

Jeffrey Kucik, Associate Professor, School of Government and Public Policy at University of Arizona

Chad Thompson, Executive Director for Legal Affairs & Trade, General Motors

Moderator: Sarah Thorn, Senior Director of Global Government Affairs, Walmart

Jon Gold, Vice President of Supply Chain and Customs Policy, National Retail Federation

Phil Levy, Chief Economist, Flexport

Penny Naas, President of International Public Affairs and Sustainability, UPS

Maria Zieba, Assistant Vice President of International Affairs, National Pork Producers Council

Moderator: Ana Swanson, Correspondent, New York Times

Ambassador Sarah Bianchi, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative

Moderator: Ambassador Robert Holleyman, Partner & President & CEO, Crowell & Moring LLP and C&M International; Former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative

The post 2022 Washington International Trade Conference Recap appeared first on WITA.

On Thursday, October 7, we welcomed members of the Board and Advisory Council of Listening for America, as they presented key findings of their report on the views of Americans about international trade and globalization. Since 2018, Listening for America has engaged a diverse cross-section of Americans in informal conversations and focus groups to discuss their experiences with international trade and globalization. Panelists shared key findings of the report and discussed ways in which policy makers can most effectively address the needs of communities in today’s globalized economy. 

WITA Webinar Featuring: 

Ambassador Peter Allgeier, President, Nauset Global LLC; former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative 

Kira Alvarez, Vice President, ViacomCBS

Catherine A. Novelli, President, Listening for America; Senior Advisor, Shearwater Global

Bruce Stokes, Executive Director Transatlantic Task Force and non-resident fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Ambassador Peter Allgeier has over forty years of experience in negotiating international trade and investment issues, in both government and the private sector. At the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, he served as the Deputy USTR and as U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO), also serving twice (2005, 2009) as Acting US Trade Representative. Before his appointment as Deputy USTR, he served in a series of senior negotiating positions covering Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere.  

From 2012-2016, Ambassador Allgeier served as President of the Coalition of Service Industries (CSI), representing the international trade and investment interests of the American service economy. including major international companies from the banking, insurance, telecommunications, information technology, express delivery, audiovisual, energy services, and other service industries. Prior to his leadership of CSI, he served as President of C&M International, a trade consulting firm based in Washington, DC. 

He is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Washington International Trade Association (WITA) and the Woodrow Wilson Distinguished Alumnus Award from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

He has a Ph.D. in International Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University, and an A.B. in International Relations from Brown University. 

Kira Alvarez is Vice President of Government Relations at ViacomCBS. Before joining Viacom CBS, Ms. Alvarez served as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Chief Negotiator for IP Enforcement, in the Obama administration, responsible for bilateral IP negotiations between the US and China, and served as the U.S. co-chair of the IP Committee of the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade (JCCT). She negotiated the IP chapters of several US Free Trade Agreements, including those with Chile, Central America (CAFTA) and Morocco. Ms. Alvarez is on the Board of Directors of Listening for America, and helped conduct the listening sessions that are the basis for the group’s report and recommendations. Ms. Alvarez’s work in the private sector includes representing the American Bar Association’s Section of Intellectual Property Rights, and she has also worked for AbbVie, Time Warner and Eli Lilly.

Ms. Alvarez was born and raised bilingual in Miami’s Little Havana. She has a Juris Doctor and Master of Science in Foreign Service (JD/MSFS) from Georgetown University and Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College, where she was Editor in Chief of the Harvard International Review.

Catherine A. Novelli is the President of Listening for America, a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to forging a new vision of U.S. international trade engagement. She is a Fellow at the Center for New American Security and a Senior Advisor to Shearwater Global. She is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University. She previously served as Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment (2014-2017) where she promoted economic reform and open markets for U.S. products and services. As Under Secretary, Ambassador Novelli spearheaded the first-of- its-kind Our Ocean movement, which, during her tenure, resulted in $10 billion for Ocean conservation and has become a continuing global effort. She also launched the Global Connect Initiative, an innovative partnership with governments, multilateral development banks and the private sector to connect 1.5 billion people to the Internet. 

Novelli spent seven years as Vice President, Worldwide Government Affairs at Apple Inc where she headed a multinational international team responsible for Apple’s government relations and public policy. Prior to her position at Apple, she was a partner in the law firm of Mayer Brown International. She had a long career at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, rising to Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe & the Mediterranean, where she coordinated U.S. trade and investment policy for Europe, Russia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Northern Africa. She took a leading role in many of the most important U.S. trade negotiations in those regions, including free trade agreements with Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain, and Oman. As the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia, she negotiated most of the bilateral trade and investment agreements that underpin our economic relationship in that region. 

Novelli currently serves on the Boards of the National Wildlife Federation, the Northern Virginia Community College and the Advisory Board of the Pristine Seas Initiative of the National Geographic Society. She was also named an Ocean Elder.  

Novelli has received numerous honors and awards, including the State Department Distinguished Service Award and the International Trade Woman of the Year Award. She is a graduate of Tufts University, holds a law degree from the University of Michigan and a Master of Laws from University of London. 

Bruce Stokes is Executive Director Transatlantic Task Force and non-resident fellow, German Marshall Fund of the United States. Previously, he was the director of Global Economic Attitudes at the Pew Research Center in Washington, DC, where he helped create and author Pew’s annual global attitudes survey. He is a former international economics correspondent for the National Journal, a Washington-based public policy magazine. He is also a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is a member, and is currently an associate fellow at Chatham House.

He is co-author of the book America Against the World: How We Are Different and Why We Are Disliked (Times Books, 2006), and author of numerous German Marshall Fund and Council on Foreign Relations studies.

Stokes is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

The post WITA Webinar: Listening for America (Report) on Trade appeared first on WITA.

On Thursday, September 23, we discussed if a “less trade-restrictive” values-based trade policy can be achieved within a rules-based international trading system. We asked questions if trade policy should address legitimate social, humanitarian and environmental goals, and can it be done in a way that stays true to the non-discrimination principles of the original GATT Agreement? Can these objectives be achieved in a way that is consistent with the GATT Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, that they are not “more trade-restrictive than necessary to fulfill the legitimate objective[s]?”

Katrin Kuhlmann, President and Founder, New Markets Lab; Visiting Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

The post WITA Webinar: Can Managed Trade be Free Trade? appeared first on WITA.

On May 12, WITA discussed how carbon border adjustment measures (CBAM) fit in the context of national and multilateral efforts to reduce carbon’s impact on climate change. 

WITA Webinar Featuring:

Dave Banks, Fellow at Bipartisan Policy Center, Senior Fellow at Atlantic Council 

Andrew Shoyer, Partner and Co-Lead, Global Arbitration, Trade and Advocacy,  Sidley 

Madelaine Tuininga, European Commission, DG Trade Head of Unit for Sustainable Development and the European Green Deal

Moderator: Samantha Gross, Director, Energy Security and Climate Initiative, Brookings 

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

The post WITA Webinar: How Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms Fit in the Trade (and Environmental) Tool Box appeared first on WITA.

On May 5, 2021, WITA discussed Stronger: Adapting America’s China strategy in an age of competitive interdependence with the author, Ryan Hass, and an expert panel. 

WITA Webinar Featuring:

Ryan Hass, Senior Advisor, McLarty Associates, Scowcroft Group

Amy Celico, Principal, Albright Stonebridge Group

Wendy Cutler, Vice President and Managing Director, Asia Society Policy Institute

John Pomfret, Contributor, The Washington Post, Author of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Amy Celico is a Principal of Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG), and leads the firm’s China team in Washington, DC. Drawing on more than 20 years of experience, Ms. Celico develops and implements tailored strategies for clients, helping them deepen relationships with key stakeholders, resolve complex problems, and build and expand their business.

Prior to joining ASG, Ms. Celico served as Senior Director for China Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where she developed trade policy positions for bilateral discussions with China through the Strategic Economic Dialogue and the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.

Previously, Ms. Celico served as Deputy Director of the Office of the Chinese Economic Area at the U.S. Department of Commerce; she has also worked at the U.S. Department of State, including as a diplomat stationed in Beijing and Shanghai. Prior to her government service, Ms. Celico was the Director of Development for the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies.

Ms. Celico earned a B.A. with honors in Asian Studies from Mount Holyoke College and completed her M.A. at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She speaks Mandarin Chinese and spent seven years living and working in China.

Ryan Hass is a Senior Advisor with McLarty Associates and Scowcroft Group, and provides strategic advice to clients on a global set of issues, with a particular focus on Asia and China. Hass also serves as a fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, where he holds a joint appointment to the John L. Thornton China Center and the Center for East Asia Policy Studies.

Hass previously served as the director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the National Security Council staff. In that role, he advised President Obama and senior White House officials on all aspects of US policy toward China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, and coordinated the implementation of US policy toward this region among U.S. government departments and agencies. He also worked closely with the US business community to address challenges that US stakeholders encountered in greater China. Hass joined President Obama’s state visit delegations in Beijing and Washington respectively in 2014 and 2015, and the president’s delegation to Nanjing, China, for the G-20 in 2016, and to Lima, Peru, for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meetings in 2016.

Prior to joining NSC, Hass served as a Foreign Service Officer in US Embassy Beijing, where he earned the State Department Director General’s award for impact and originality in reporting, an award given annually to the officer whose reporting had the greatest impact on the formulation of US foreign policy. Hass also served in Embassy Seoul and Embassy Ulaanbaatar, and domestically in the State Department Offices of Taiwan Coordination and Korean Affairs.

Hass was born and raised in Washington state. He graduated from the University of Washington and attended the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies prior to joining the State Department. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

John Pomfret, raised in New York City and educated at Stanford and Nanjing universities, is an award-winning journalist who worked with the Washington Post for several decades. He currently is a contributing writer to the Post’s Global Opinions section.

Pomfret was a foreign correspondent for 20 years and spent eight years covering big wars and small in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Congo, Sri Lanka and Iraq. Pomfret spent seven years covering China—one in the late 1980s during the Tiananmen Square protests and then from 1997 until the end of 2003 as the bureau chief for the Washington Post in Beijing. Pomfret ran the Post’s Outlook section and covered U.S. relations with Asia. 

In 2003, he won he Osborne Elliot Award for the best coverage of Asia. In 2007, Pomfret was awarded the Shorenstein Award from Harvard and Stanford universities for his lifetime coverage of Asia. In 1996, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting for his work in Congo.

Pomfret is the author of the best-selling “Chinese Lessons: Five Classmates and the Story of the New China” (1996). His latest book, “The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present” (2016) was awarded the 2017 Arthur Ross Award by the Council on Foreign Relations. His new book, “From Warsaw With Love: Polish Spies, the CIA and the Making of an Unlikely Alliance” will be published in October 2021. Pomfret has also partnered with a leading Chinese business executive to write his memoirs.

Pomfret speaks, reads and writes Mandarin, having spent two years at Nanjing University in the early 1980s as part of one of the first groups of American students to study in China. He graduated from Stanford University with a BA and MA in East Asian Studies. 

Wendy Cutler is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington, D.C. office. In these roles, she focuses on building ASPI’s presence in the nation’s capital and on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment and innovation, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia.

She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations and the WTO Financial Services negotiations. She has published a series of ASPI papers on the Asian trade landscape, and serves as a regular media commentator on trade and investment developments in Asia and the world.  

The post WITA China Roundtable: A New U.S. Strategy for an Age of Competitive Interdependence appeared first on WITA.

On April 29, 2021, WITA discussed the efforts to create a global minimum tax, and related international tax and trade issues.

PROGRAM AGENDA 

Welcome: 10:00 AM (US/Eastern)

• Kenneth Levinson, Executive Director, WITA

• Lilian V. Faulhaber, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
• Loren C. Ponds, Member, Miller & Chevalier Chartered – former Chief Tax Counsel, Ways & Means Republican
• Bob Stack, Managing Director, Washington National Tax | International Tax Group, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Moderator: Antonia Ferrier, Chief Strategic Communications Officer, CGCN Group

• Q & A with Audience – Webinar attendees are encouraged to use the Q&A function on the Zoom app to submit their questions in real time.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

The post WITA Webinar on Proposals for a Global Minimum Tax appeared first on WITA.