Free Trade Between China and the United States?

The Foreign Policy Association presents a talk with Dr. C. Fred Bergsten, Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus of the Peterson Institute on International Economics.

Please join the Foreign Policy Association for a talk with Dr. C. Fred Bergsten, Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus of the Peterson Institute on International Economics. A book signing of his newest book, "Bridging the Pacific: Toward Free Trade and Investment between China and the United States" will follow.

The terrain of the world trading system is shifting as countries in Asia, Europe, and North America negotiate new trade agreements. However, none of these talks include both China and the United States, the two largest economies in the world. Dr. Bergsten will argue that China and the United States would benefit substantially from achieving free trade and investment between them and will discuss how it can be accomplished.

Dr. Bergsten will be speaking as part of the David Coulter/Warburg Pincus Distinguished Lecture Series on International Trade.

About Dr. C. Fred Bergsten
Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus, Peterson Institute for International Economics
C. Fred Bergsten, Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus, was the founding director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (formerly the Institute for International Economics) from 1981 through 2012. He is a member of the President's Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, a member of the Advisory Committee to the Export-Import Bank, and co-chairman of the Private Sector Advisory Group to the United States–India Trade Policy Forum, comprising the trade ministers of those two countries.

Dr. Bergsten was assistant secretary for international affairs of the US Treasury during 1977–81. He also functioned as undersecretary for monetary affairs during 1980–81, representing the United States on the G-5 Deputies and in preparing G-7 summits. During 1969–71, starting at age 27, Dr. Bergsten coordinated US foreign economic policy in the White House as assistant for international economic affairs to Dr. Henry Kissinger at the National Security Council.

Dr. Bergsten was chairman of the Eminent Persons Group of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum from 1993 to 1995, authoring its three reports that recommended "free and open trade in the region" as adopted at the APEC Leaders' summits in 1993 and 1994 and now being pursued through the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He was chairman of the Competitiveness Policy Council created by the Congress from 1991 through 1995; its 12 members included corporate CEOs, labor union presidents and Cabinet officers who were appointed by the president and the congressional leadership. He chaired the "Shadow G-8," comprising top economic and foreign policy experts from the G-8 countries, which advised those governments on their annual summits during 2000–2005.

Dr. Bergsten has authored, coauthored, edited or coedited 42 books on international economic issues including Bridging the Pacific: Toward Free Trade and Investment between China and the United States (2014), The Long-Term International Economic Position of the United States (2009, designated a "must read" by The Washington Post), China's Rise: Challenges and Opportunities (2008), China, The Balance Sheet: What the World Needs to Know Now About The Emerging Superpower (2006), The United States and the World Economy: Foreign Economic Policy for the Next Decade (2005), and The Dilemmas of the Dollar (2d ed., 1996).

Dr. Bergsten has received the Meritorious Honor Award of the Department of State (1965), the Exceptional Service Award of the Treasury Department (1981), the Legion d'Honneur from the Government of France (1985) and the Order of the Polar Star from the Government of Sweden (2013). He has been named an Honorary Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (1997) and a Global Advisor to the President of the Republic of Korea (2009). He received MA, MALD, and PhD degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2010, and a BA magna cum laude and honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Central Methodist University.