Ep. 5 – WITA’s Friday Exchange: All Eyes on China – The prospects of negotiating the biggest deal of them all!

China Moon Strategies, LLC, is a consulting firm Jeff Moon founded in 2017 after leaving the Obama White House, where he served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China Affairs and previously at the National Security Council.

Mr. Moon has more than three decades of Asia geopolitical experience in the public and private sectors, including ten years working in China.  As a Vice President of Cisco and Dolby, he led Asia government affairs teams while assigned to Beijing, Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC.

Earlier in his career, he was a U.S. State Department diplomat who specialized in China affairs, completing assignments to Beijing, Chengdu and Taipei, and in Washington to the China Desk and the predecessor of the Cyberspace Bureau. In his final Foreign Service assignment, he was Acting U.S. Ambassador in Nepal.

He is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University and Columbia Law School.

Christopher Padilla is a Senior Advisor based in Brunswick’s Washington, DC office. He brings senior experience from decades spent in government policy and corporate roles, and practical perspective from his time as a supply chain practitioner. He has championed advocacy efforts on trade, tariffs, and tax policy at the highest levels of government worldwide.

Previously, Padilla led global government and regulatory affairs for IBM Corporation for 15 years. He oversaw a team of advocacy professionals in 36 countries, and trade and sanctions compliance for IBM’s global operations.

Before IBM, Padilla held senior roles in the Commerce Department. The President twice appointed him to Senate-confirmed positions, as Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, and as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration. He also held roles as an Assistant United States Trade Representative, a Senior Advisor at the Department of State, and as a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

Earlier, he spent 15 years in marketing, business development, and international trade relations roles at AT&T and Eastman Kodak Company. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in international economics from Johns Hopkins University.

Stephen P. Vaughn is a Partner in the International Trade Team of King & Spalding, where he works primarily on international trade litigation and policy matters. In April 2019, Vaughn completed more than two years of service as General Counsel for the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), where he managed a team of government attorneys representing U.S. interests in both trade negotiations and trade litigation. During two months in early 2017, he also served as acting U.S. Trade Representative.

Vaughn is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost authorities on current U.S. trade policy, as well as one of the most talented U.S. trade remedy litigators. He is recognized as a leading practitioner in Trade Remedies and Trade Policy by Legal 500 U.S., Chambers USA, and Chambers Global. He was named a 2024 Client Service All-Star by BTI Consulting and one of Washingtonian’s 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy in 2025.

Wendy Cutler is Senior Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), based in Washington, D.C. In this role, she focuses on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment, economic security, 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.