Speaker biographies

Michael Auslin studies U.S.-Asian relations, Japanese foreign policy, and Asian security as a resident scholar at AEI. Previously, Mr. Auslin was an associate professor of history and senior research fellow at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University. He has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Marshall Memorial Fellow by the German Marshall Fund, an Asia 21 Young Leader, and a Fulbright and Japan Foundation Scholar. His writings on Japan and Japanese diplomacy include the books Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy (Harvard University Press, 2006) and Japan Society: Celebrating a Century, 1907-2007 (Japan Society, 2007).

Claude Barfield is a resident scholar at AEI. He is the author or editor of a number of books on trade and science policy, including Free Trade, Sovereignty, Democracy: The Future of the World Trade Organization (AEI Press, 2001). In 1999, he coauthored Tiger by the Tail: China and the World Trade Organization (AEI Press) with Mark Groombridge. Mr. Barfield is working with Andrei Zlate on the forthcoming AEI Press book The Eagle and the Dragon: The United States, China, and the Rise of Asian Regionalism. Previously, he served in the Gerald R. Ford administration, on the staff of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and as a co–staff director of the President’s Commission for a National Agenda for the Eighties.

Wendy Cutler is the assistant U.S. trade representative for Japan, Korea and APEC affairs. She is responsible for developing and implementing U.S. trade policy towards Japan and Korea and investment initiatives in the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. She was the chief U.S. negotiator for the Korea-United States (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement, signed on June 30, 2007. Since 1988, Ms. Cutler has held numerous positions in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, including assistant U.S. trade representative for North Asian Affairs, as well as for Services, Investment, and Intellectual Property. She has negotiated bilateral agreements on telecommunications, insurance, transparency, and semiconductors. Ms. Cutler also has extensive multilateral negotiating experience as the U.S. negotiator for the 1997 World Trade Organization Financial Services Agreement and the Uruguay Round agreements on rules of origin and import licensing. Previously, Ms. Cutler worked at the Commerce Department from 1983 until1988.

Matthew Goodman is managing director of Stonebridge International LLC, a global business advisory firm based in Washington, D.C. Prior to Stonebridge, Mr. Goodman served as director for Asian economic affairs at the White House's National Security Council. From 1997 to 2002, he worked for Goldman, Sachs & Co, heading the investment bank's government affairs operations in Tokyo and London. Mr. Goodman worked at the U.S. Treasury Department, serving as financial attaché and treasury representative at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo and as an international economist responsible for several Asian nations, including China and Korea, in Washington. Mr. Goodman began his professional career as financial journalist in Tokyo in 1983. Mr. Goodman is a director of the U.S. Foundation for the United World College of the Atlantic, a Trustee of the Japan-America Society of Washington, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Kenji Goto is a minister of economy, trade, industry, and energy at the Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C. He joined Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1983 and has served in a variety of positions within MITI and its successor, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), over the past two and a half decades, including director of the industrial organization division and director of the international division of METI’s Agency for Natural Resources and Energy. From 2002-2004, he served as the executive director of the structured and trade finance insurance department of Nippon Export and Investment Insurance.