EDI Seminar | The Future of U.S. Trade Policy

RSVP Required Open to the Public

Please join the Belfer Center and Center for Business and Government’s Economic Diplomacy Initiative for a conversation with Wendy Cutler and Kelly Ann Shaw on the future of U.S. trade policy. The next U.S. administration will encounter many challenges in international trade: rising unilateralism and protectionism, the threat of tit-for-tat tariffs, and weakened bilateral trade relationships and multilateral institutions. In this timely discussion, senior officials from the Obama and Trump administrations will debate what is next for the U.S.-China trade war, the future of the WTO, and ultimately how the U.S. can continue its global leadership of trade policy after the 2020 presidential election. The conversation will be introduced by Aditi Kumar, Executive Director of the Belfer Center, and moderated by Professor Robert Lawrence.

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Date: Thu, Nov 12, 2020 Time: 04:00pm - 05:00pm Location: Online

Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo speaks during the World Trade Organization's 2013 Director-General Selection Process, after which he served as Director-General until August 31, 2020. His successor has not yet been chosen.

About the Speakers

About the Speakers:

Wendy Cutler is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington D.C. office. 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), including serving as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. In that capacity, she worked on a range of U.S. trade negotiations and initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the bilateral negotiations with Japan. She also was the Chief Negotiator to the U.S.-Korea (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement.

Kelly Ann Shaw, former Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, brings to bear a deep knowledge of U.S. international trade, investment, and economic law and policy drawn from her extensive public service at the White House, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), and the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. Congress.

In her White House role, serving on both the National Security Council and National Economic Council, Kelly Ann led the Office of International Economic Affairs and played an instrumental role in a wide range of legislation, negotiations, and agreements, including the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the China Phase One agreement. As a senior adviser to the president on matters of international economic policy, including trade, investment, development, global economics, energy, and the environment, she was directly involved in almost every major economic decision made at the Trump White House.

Kelly Ann also as served as lead U.S. negotiator at the G7, G20, and APEC and led the U.S.-UK Economic Working Group. As Republican Trade Counsel for the Committee on Ways and Means, Kelly Ann played an important role in formulating U.S. international trade and investment law, policy, and strategy. In her role as Assistant General Counsel for USTR based in Geneva, Switzerland, and Washington, D.C., she represented the United States in more than 40 World Trade Organization (WTO) disputes and in negotiations. She also served as a lead lawyer, negotiator, and adviser in other important international negotiations, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Prior to her distinguished government service, Kelly Ann was in private practice in Washington, DC.

Robert Z. Lawrence is Albert L. Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment, a Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He currently serves as Faculty Chair of The Practice of Trade Policy executive program at Harvard Kennedy School. He served as a member of the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1998 to 2000. Lawrence has also been a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has taught at Yale University, where he received his PhD in economics. His research focuses on trade policy. He is the author of Crimes and Punishments? Retaliation under the WTO; Regionalism, Multilateralism and Deeper Integration; Single World, Divided Nations?;and Can America Compete? He is coauthor of Has Globalization Gone Far Enough? The Costs of Fragmentation in OECD Markets (with Scott Bradford); A Prism on Globalization; Globaphobia: Confronting Fears About Open Trade; A Vision for the World Economy; and Saving Free Trade: A Pragmatic Approach. Lawrence has served on the advisory boards of the Congressional Budget Office, the Overseas Development Council, and the Presidential Commission on United States-Pacific Trade and Investment Policy.