Citigroup Senior Advisor: "We all would pitch in" to help Japan
The Asia Society in New York played host Wednesday afternoon to a panel discussion entitled "Does Economic Nationalism Threaten the World Economy?" featuring former Director of the National Economic Council for the Obama Administration Larry Summers, Asia Society Trustee and Citigroup Senior Advisor William R. Rhodes and Kathleen Stephansen, Managing Director and Head of Economic Strategy at AIG. The discussion was moderated by Asia Society Executive Vice President Jamie Metzl.
The event was the New York launch of the Asia Society's recent task force report, Growing Together Beats Falling Apart: Making Asian Economic Integration Work for Asia, the United States and the World.
CNBC's Amanda Drury, broadcasting live from the Asia Society, spoke with Rhodes before the discussion. Her questions focused mostly on the economic and political crisis in Portugal, but she also touched on the ongoing recovery effort in Japan. Rhodes said he was optimistic the Japanese economy could rebound, much like it did following the Kobe earthquake in 1995. When asked if Japan had asked for help from international banks like Citi, the former Citigroup Senior Vice Chairman said:
"We all would pitch in there. I think the wild card here is the nuclear situation, because it has cut power which has interfered in the supply of parts which has caused factories to shut down."
Watch full video of the panel discussion here. And you can watch CNBC's coverage below: