The U.S. recently passed the CHIPS Act, in part a response to China’s own 2025 Plan. On Friday, September 16, 2022, WITA hosted a webinar to discuss Chinese industrial policy. This webinar will be part one of a two-part mini-series looking at international trade and competition for the “future” economy.
Featured Speakers:
Anna Ashton, Director, China Corporate Affairs and U.S.-China, Eurasia Group
Michael Beckley, Associate Professor of Political Science, Tufts University. Author of the new book: Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China
Gerard DiPippo, Senior Fellow, Economics Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Clete Willems, Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Speaker Biographies:
Anna Ashton
Anna Ashton is the Director of China Corporate Affairs and U.S.-China at the Eurasia Group. In her most recent previous role, she served as Senior Fellow for Trade, Investment, and Innovation at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Prior to joining ASPI, Anna was vice president of government affairs for the US-China Business Council, developing and implementing advocacy on behalf of member companies and representing the Council in engagements with the policy community and the public. She also directed the Council’s business advisory services work from 2016 to 2019.
Anna began her career as an intelligence officer for the Department of Defense, analyzing and briefing officials on strategic China issues. She later worked for her home state of Arkansas to develop a strategy for recruiting Chinese investment. In addition, she spent several years working on trade and investment issues for the US Chamber of Commerce and the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Anna regularly speaks at programs for business and policy audiences and she has appeared in a range of broadcast and print media. She holds a JD from Georgetown Law, an MA in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and a BA in Chinese Studies from Wellesley College. She serves on the Congressional Circle for the US-Asia Institute and is a member of the National Committee on US-China Relations, the Trade Policy Forum, and Women in International Trade.
Michael Beckley
Michael Beckley is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University and a Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
His research on great power competition has received awards from the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association and has been featured by numerous media including the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post.
Previously, Michael worked for Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, the U.S. Department of Defense, the RAND Corporation, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He continues to advise offices within the U.S. Intelligence Community and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Michael holds a Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University. His first book, Unrivaled: Why America Will Remain the World’s Sole Superpower, was published in 2018 by Cornell University Press.
Gerard DiPippo
Gerard DiPippo is a senior fellow with the Economics Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He joined CSIS after nearly 11 years in the U.S. intelligence community (IC). From 2018 to 2021, DiPippo was a deputy national intelligence officer for economic issues at the National Intelligence Council, where he led the IC’s economic analysis of East Asia. He also was a senior economic analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, focused on East Asia, South Asia, and global economic issues. DiPippo holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and philosophy from Dartmouth College.
Clete Willems
Clete Willems is a Partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. He advises clients, including investors, trade associations, and multinational companies, on international economic law and policy matters. With over 16 years of U.S. government experience, he offers clients strategic guidance and legal representation on trade, investment, finance, economic development, sanctions, and energy, among other issues.
Before joining Akin Gump, Clete served in the White House as the Deputy Assistant to the President of International Economics and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. This position was also part of the National Security Council. In this role, he was the lead U.S. negotiator at multilateral summits, serving as the President’s Sherpa at the G-7 and G-20 Summits and the lead negotiator at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum. He was also deeply involved with negotiations with major U.S. trading partners, such as China, the European Union, Japan, Korea, Canada, and Mexico. Clete also helped the administration achieve key legislative victories, including the passage of development finance reform legislation and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) reform legislation.
Prior to joining the White House, Clete worked at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for eight years. Among other positions, Clete served as chief counsel for negotiations, legislation, and administrative law and legal advisor to the U.S. Mission to the WTO. He was heavily involved in both trade policy issues and WTO litigation.
Prior to joining USTR, Clete worked as counsel on the House Budget Committee and in multiple positions, including legislative director, for then-Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI). In this role, he was successful in helping pass multiple pieces of trade and energy-related legislation into law.
In addition to being part of the firm’s public law and policy practice, Clete works closely with the international trade team on issues related to the WTO, CFIUS, and sanctions. He has participated in over 30 WTO proceedings.