U.S.-China Diplomacy: 40 Years of What’s Worked and What has Not

U.S.-China relations has reached a watershed moment.  Even as both nations reassess the trajectory of their bilateral relationship, James Green, who recently served as Minister Counselor for Trade Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, takes a close look at critical points in the history of U.S.-China negotiations: from anti-Soviet coordination to nonproliferation, from the Tiananmen crackdown to cyber theft, from China's WTO accession to G20 summits.  James Green is the creator of Georgetown University’s new initiative, the U.S.-China Dialogue Podcast and has conducted in-depth interviews with two dozen former U.S. cabinet secretaries, ambassadors and senior officials regarding pivotal events in U.S.-China relations.  Mr. Green will explore how U.S. Administrations from Carter to Trump have dealt with a rising China; what motivated them, and what the lessons are for future administrations.  Based on his time as the senior official in China from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), furthermore, Mr. Green will also speak about the prospects for future trade friction with China.

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James Green has worked for over two decades on U.S.-Asia relations. For the last five years, Mr. Green was the Minister Counselor for Trade Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.  As the senior official in China from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Mr. Green was deeply involved in all aspects of trade negotiations, trade enforcement, and in reducing market access barriers for American entities.  In prior government service, Mr. Green worked on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff and at the State Department’s China Desk on bilateral affairs. He also served as the China Director of the White House’s National Security Council.  In the private sector, Mr. Green was a senior vice president at the global strategy firm founded by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and was the founding government relations manager at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, Asia’s largest AmCham.  Currently, Mr. Green is a Senior Research Fellow at Georgetown University's Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues and hosts a U.S.-China Dialogue Podcast.