A Conversation with U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell and former U.S. Trade Representatives Ambassador Carla Hills and Ambassador Susan Schwab
With rising global economic tensions and the growing use of tariffs, thank you for joining WITA as we welcomed U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) for a discussion with former United States Trade Representatives Carla Hills and Susan Schwab. The Senator and the Ambassadors discussed American competitiveness and trade in an evolving global economic landscape.
Speaker Biographies
Maria Cantwell currently serves as a United States Senator for the State of Washington. As a respected leader – both in public service and in the private sector – Maria has always embraced the values she first learned growing up in a strong working-class family. With the help of Pell Grants, Maria was the first member of her family to graduate college. Later, a successful businesswoman in Washington’s hi-tech industry, she helped build a company that created hundreds of high-paying jobs from the ground up.
Maria was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000, 2006, 2012, and again in 2018, pledging to honor the hard work, aspirations and faith of the people of Washington state. She is working to create affordable opportunities for consumers, businesses and families, to make our nation more secure today, to foster innovation for tomorrow, and to stand with parents as they educate and care for their children.
Maria gets results. She cut taxes for the middle-class by ensuring that Washington taxpayers can deduct state and local taxes from their federal returns. She fought attempts by the Bush Administration to raise local electricity rates. When bankrupt Enron officials tried to charge Washington ratepayers for millions of dollars in undelivered electricity, Maria led the effort that successfully stopped them. Maria has protected countless jobs in Washington’s aerospace industry by cracking down on foreign companies’ unfair trade practices and has worked to create still more well-paying jobs through effective investments in new technology and valuable job training. Maria is leading efforts in the Senate to make America more energy independent. She has been a proud advocate for better educational opportunities for our children and less expensive, more accessible health care for our families. Maria continues to build new growth and strong partnerships, insisting on responsibility and making life more affordable for all of Washington ‘s families.
Ambassador Carla A. Hills is senior counselor at ASG, where she draws on a career at the highest echelons of U.S. trade policy and diplomacy to help clients navigate markets around the world. Ambassador Hills served as U.S. trade representative from 1989 to 1993. In this capacity, she was President George H.W. Bush’s principal adviser on international trade policy and the chief U.S. trade negotiator. She negotiated and concluded the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and led the U.S. negotiations on the Uruguay Round of the World Trade Organization.
Previously, Carla served as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (the third woman to hold a cabinet position). She also served as the assistant attorney general, Civil Division, of the U.S. Department of Justice. Before entering government, Ambassador Hills cofounded and was partner in what is now the Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP law firm. She also served as an adjunct professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law teaching antitrust law and coauthored Antitrust Adviser, published by McGraw-Hill. Her expertise in antitrust and federal civil matters informs her understanding of business.
Ambassador Hills has served on many corporate boards and is honorary chair of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, honorary chair of the Inter-American Dialogue, trustee to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, chair emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, and honorary member of the Peterson Institute for International Economics’ board of directors.
She earned her JD from Yale Law School and a BA from Stanford University. She also holds honorary degrees from a number of colleges and universities. In 2000, she was awarded the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor given by the Mexican government to a non-citizen. Ambassador Hills is based in Washington, D.C.
Ambassador Susan Schwab served as U.S. Trade Representative (2006–09) and as deputy (2005–06). As USTR, she concluded free trade agreements with Peru, Colombia, South Korea and others; and launched the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. She pursued and/or settled trade disputes with various WTO members, including China, Canada, and the EU, and engaged in negotiations at the WTO, APEC and other regional or plurilateral settings.
In academia, she served as dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland; and as vice chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) & CEO of the USM Foundation. She still teaches classes in international trade.
In the private sector, Schwab was director of corporate business development for Motorola, Inc., where she engaged in M&A and joint venture negotiations in Asia, including in China.
Earlier in government, she served as assistant secretary of Commerce and director-general of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service, as a trade staffer and legislative director for Senator John C. Danforth (R-MO), and as a foreign service officer at the US Embassy in Tokyo. She began her career as an agricultural trade negotiator at USTR.
Ambassador Schwab serves on the boards of Caterpillar, FedEx and Marriott. She chairs the board of The National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), and is on the boards of The Conference Board, Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), and Signature Theatre of Arlington, VA.
She holds a BA from Williams College; a Master’s from Stanford University; and a Ph.D. from The George Washington University.
Nasim Fussell serves as Vice President of Trade and International at Business Roundtable, where she leads the organization’s efforts to advance policies that promote U.S. economic growth through international trade and investment.
Prior to joining Business Roundtable, Nasim was a Senior Vice President at a government relations and public affairs firm, where she led the organization’s International Trade practice.
Before that, Nasim held senior roles in both chambers of Congress. She served as Chief International Trade Counsel for the Senate Finance Committee under Chairman Chuck Grassley, and as Deputy Chief International Trade Counsel under Chairman Orrin Hatch. In the House, she was Trade Counsel for the Ways and Means Committee under Chairmen Brady, Ryan and Camp. Throughout her tenure on the Hill, Nasim contributed to major legislative initiatives including the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), Trade Promotion Authority, and customs modernization reforms, among others.
Nasim also brings private sector experience from her work as a partner at a global law firm, as well as in-house roles at multinational companies and a cross-sector trade association. She began her legal career at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Nasim currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Washington International Trade Association (WITA). She holds an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law from the George Washington University Law School, a J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law, and a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan.
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