Speaker biographies
Eric Altbach is the vice president for economic and trade affairs at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), where he plays a central role in developing and implementing NBR initiatives related to U.S. economic and trade interests in Asia. Prior to joining NBR, Mr. Altbach held a variety of government positions related to Asian economic and trade issues, most recently as deputy assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs. Mr. Altbach served at the National Security Council (NSC) on two occasions, as director for Asian economic affairs and as acting director for Southeast Asian affairs. At the NSC, he played an integral role in interagency coordination of U.S. trade and economic policy for China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as South and Southeast Asia. He was also responsible for White House preparations for the president’s participation in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meetings in Santiago, Chile and Busan, South Korea. Mr. Altbach also held a number of positions at the U.S. Department of State, including senior economic analyst for Japan and Korea. He was a visiting lecturer in Asian politics at Tufts University in 1996–97.
Michael Auslin studies U.S.–East Asian relations, Asian security, U.S.–Japanese relations, and Asia-Pacific multilateral organizations as a resident scholar at AEI. Prior to joining AEI, 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, 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. Before coming to AEI, 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.
Karan Bhatia is the vice president and senior counsel for international law and policy of General Electric Company (GE), where he works with GE’s business units to expand their presence in global markets and oversees GE’s engagement on legislative and policy issues with governments around the world. In 2005–2007, Ambassador Bhatia served as deputy U.S. trade representative in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where he was the principal U.S. trade liaison for Asia and Africa. Specific achievements include negotiating the landmark Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, concluding the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral WTO Accession Agreement, founding the U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum, and supervising the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade. He also directed policies in the areas of trade capacity building, environmental, and labor issues and served on the boards of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. From 2003 to 2005, Ambassador Bhatia was assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where he crafted U.S. international and domestic aviation policy, and supervised the negotiation of international air services agreements with more than twenty countries, including landmark market liberalizing agreements with China and India. Ambassador Bhatia previously served in the Department of Commerce as deputy under secretary and chief counsel for the Bureau of Industry and Security, the U.S. government agency that administers U.S. export controls.
Edward Gresser joined the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) as director of the Project on Trade and Global Markets in 2001. Mr. Gresser researches economic relations between the west and the Muslim world; East Asian integration and American trade relations with China; the U.S. tariff system and its effects on low-income families and least-developed countries; inter-American relations; competitiveness and worker adjustment; trends in American manufacturing; international finance; and the relationship between trade, labor and environmental issues. His research has been cited by leaders of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and other institutions. Before joining PPI, Mr. Gresser was a policy adviser to U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky. Earlier, as legislative assistant and then policy director for Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) from 1993 to 1998, he was responsible for staff work on trade foreign policy and other matters, with particular focus on developing and building broad consensus for a policy of engagement in China. Before joining Baucus’s staff, Mr. Gresser worked for the consulting firm Podesta Associates and as a legislative assistant for Representative Silvio Conte (R-Mass.). His first book is Freedom from Want: American Liberalism and the Global Economy (Soft Skull, 2007).
Christopher A. Padilla has been the under secretary of commerce for international trade since December 2007. He is responsible for leading the International Trade Administration, which participates in the development of U.S. trade policy, identifies and resolves market access and compliance issues, promotes American competitiveness and the strength of U.S. companies in the global economy, administers U.S. trade laws, and undertakes a range of trade promotion and trade advocacy efforts. Mr. Padilla was also appointed by President Bush to serve on the Congressional-Executive Commission on the People’s Republic of China in March 2008. He has worked in the Bush administration since 2002, with a particular focus on international trade and economic issues. As assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, Mr. Padilla was responsible for developing and implementing U.S. policies governing the export of items controlled for national security and foreign policy reasons, for promoting U.S. technology leadership in defense-critical products, and for industry compliance with international treaties governing chemical and biological weapons. In 2005–2006, Mr. Padilla served as chief of staff and senior advisor to deputy secretary of state Robert B. Zoellick, focusing on U.S.-Chinese relations, Latin America, Sudan, and international economic matters. In 2002–2005, he was assistant U.S. trade representative for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison, and he was heavily involved in building support for the Central American Free Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement, and several other trade agreements and initiatives. Mr. Padilla has more than fifteen years of international trade experience in the private sector, where he worked in a number of international positions at AT&T and Lucent Technologies and was director of international trade relations at Eastman Kodak Company.
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