The Trade Reporters: One Year Since “Liberation Day”

Shawn Donnan, Senior Writer, Bloomberg

Shawn Donnan is an award-winning senior writer for Bloomberg News where he reports on the US and global economies. He joined Bloomberg in 2018 from the Financial Times where he served as World Trade Editor and prior to that, World News Editor, coordinating the paper’s global coverage of economics and politics. He also worked as a correspondent and editor for the FT in Indonesia and Hong Kong, from where he edited the paper’s China coverage. He is a graduate of Boston University

David Lynch, Global Economics Correspondent, The Washington Post

David J. Lynch is the global economics correspondent for The Washington Post. Previously, he was a Washington correspondent for the Financial Times, covering white-collar crime; Politico’s cybersecurity editor; and, a senior writer with Bloomberg News, where he wrote about national security and political economy. At USA TODAY from 1994 to 2010, he followed the global economy and was the newspaper’s founding bureau chief in both London and Beijing. He covered the wars in Kosovo and Iraq, the latter as an embedded reporter with the U.S. Marines, and was the paper’s first recipient of a Nieman fellowship at Harvard University. He has reported from more than 60 countries.

During more than four decades as a journalist, Lynch also worked as a financial writer specializing in the aerospace and defense industries for The Orange County Register in southern California. In the 1980s, he was the editor of Defense Week, a Washington, D.C., trade publication covering national security.

He is the author of When The Luck Of The Irish Ran Out: The World’s Most Resilient Country and Its Struggle to Rise Again, an account of modern Ireland’s journey from rags to riches and back again, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010.

An experienced public speaker, Lynch has made television appearances on CNN, Fox, C-SPAN and PBS in the United States and BBC and Sky News in London. Recent speaking engagements included lecturing Chinese business journalists in Xi’an.

Lynch has a master’s degree in international relations from Yale University and a B.A. in government from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Ct. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife Kathleen and their three sons.

Ana Swanson, Trade and International Economics Correspondent, New York Times

Ana writes about trade and international economics for the New York Times. She previously covered the economy, trade and the Federal Reserve for The Washington Post. Before that, Ana worked as an editor of Foreign Policy’s South Asia Channel and the editor-in-chief of China Economic Review magazine in Shanghai. Her writing has also appeared in The Atlantic, CNN, Forbes, MarketWatch and other publications. Ana has appeared as a commentator on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Canadian networks including CTV and BNN. She is also a regular contributor to American Public Media’s Marketplace.

Ana has received recognition for her journalism including the Edward R. Murrow award for writing on a video, a Kantar Information is Beautiful award for data visualization, and an honorary mention for explanatory reporting from the Society of Publishers in Asia. She is a founding vice president of the International China Journalists Association.

She has a BA in cultural anthropology from Northwestern University and an MA in international relations with a focus in China and international economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Before moving to Washington, D.C., she lived and worked in China for eight years.

Koen Verhelst, Trade Reporter, POLITICO Europe

Koen Verhelst is a trade reporter at POLITICO Europe with a focus on trade, EU-China relations, and Russia sanctions.

He joined POLITICO in January 2024 as a co-author of Pro Morning Trade Europe, a reported newsletter published every working day. He has written about the EU’s investigation of Chinese subsidies for electric vehicles, cutting ties with Russia and trade talks.

Before joining POLITICO, Koen covered EU trade for MLex during 2023, specializing in corporate oversight rules and critical raw materials.

From 2014 to 2022 he was the Baltic Sea region correspondent for Het Financieele Dagblad, Euronews, Deutsche Welle, VRT and others. Based in Riga, he covered elections in eight countries, energy innovations, money laundering cases and the hybrid war with Russia.

Growing up on the banks of the Scheldt, he studied journalism at the Ede University of Applied Sciences and European Studies at the University of Bonn. He speaks Dutch, English, and German fluently plus some French and Latvian.

Moderator: Michael Smart, Managing Director, Rock Creek Global Advisors; former Director for International Trade and Investment, National Security Council, The White House

Michael J. Smart is a Managing Director at Rock Creek Global Advisors, where he focuses on international trade and investment policy, including market access and regulatory matters. He also advises multinational companies on sanctions, supply chain policy, and trade-related climate measures. 

Mr. Smart previously served as Trade Counsel on the Democratic staff of the US Senate Committee on Finance. In that role, he advised Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and members of the committee on various trade matters, including World Trade Organization negotiations and dispute settlement, free trade agreements, agricultural trade, and the trade aspects of legislation to address climate change.

Before joining the Finance Committee, Mr. Smart was Director for International Trade and Investment on the staff of the National Security Council at the White House. Mr. Smart focused on the Doha Development Agenda, trade in financial services, free trade agreements, and bilateral investment treaties. He also served as the lead White House staff for cabinet-level dialogues with Brazil and India.

Mr. Smart was previously an associate at the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP, where his practice focused on international trade and investment policy and dispute resolution. He represented companies and governments in WTO, investment treaty, and NAFTA disputes. Earlier in his career, Mr. Smart was Legislative Director for former Congressman Earl Pomeroy (D-ND).

Mr. Smart has appeared on CNN International, BBC News, Bloomberg News, and Channel News Asia and has been quoted in publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Politico, and Financial Times.

Mr. Smart is a member of the Executive Circle of the Institute of International Economic Affairs at The George Washington University and a member of the Board of Directors of the Washington International Trade Association. Mr. Smart received his BA in International Affairs from The George Washington University (Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude) and his JD from Georgetown University Law Center (cum laude).