Friday, June 15, 2018

The International House of Japan

Wendy Cutler

[Guest Speaker]

Wendy Cutler

Vice President and Managing Director, Washington, D.C. Office, Asia Society Policy Institute

Asia Society Japan Center was delighted to host a breakfast meeting with guest speaker Wendy Cutler, currently the Vice President and Managing Director, Washington, D.C. Office of Asia Society Policy Institute. Ms. Cutler worked for the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) as a diplomat and negotiator for nearly thirty years.

Ms. Cutler’s initial remarks covered a broad range of topics on U.S. trade policies under President Trump. Current trade discussions between the U.S. and several trading partners - e.g., China, Canada, EU, Japan, and Mexico - were analyzed and discussed in depth.

Participants engaged in a lively conversation with Ms. Cutler about: President Trump’s negotiation style; the linkages between trade policies and domestic politics in the U.S., and the global economic cost of trade disputes and trade wars.

About the speaker

Wendy Cutler joined the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) as Vice President and Managing Director of the Washington D.C. Office in November 2015. In these roles, she focuses on building ASPI’s presence in Washington — strengthening its outreach as a think/do tank — and on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade and women’s empowerment in Asia. She joins ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR). Most recently she served as Acting Deputy US Trade Representative, working on a range of US trade negotiations and initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. In that capacity she was responsible for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, including the bilateral negotiations with Japan.

Ms. Cutler’s other responsibilities with USTR included US-China trade relations, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, and the US-India Trade Policy Forum. She was the Chief US Negotiator for the US-Korea (KORUS) Free Trade Agreement and negotiated a wide range of bilateral agreements with Japan on such issues as telecommunications, autos, and semiconductors. She has extensive multilateral trade experience as the US negotiator for the WTO Financial Services Agreement and several Uruguay Round Agreements. Prior to joining USTR, Ms. Cutler worked on trade issues at the Commerce Department.

Ms. Cutler received her master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and her bachelor’s degree from the George Washington University.

Jesper Koll

Attendees

[Asia Society Board Member]

Mr. Duncan Clark, Chairman, BDA China Limited

[Asia Society Japan Founding Members]

Ms. Rika Beppu, Partner, Squire Patton Boggs

Mr. Daniel Fujii, CEO, Trust Capital Co., Ltd.

Mr. Harry Hill, Chairman, Japan-United States Friendship Commission

Mr. Tsutomu Horiuchi, Executive Chairman, Aquaignis Co., Ltd.

Mr. Jesper Koll, CEO, WisdomTree Japan

Mr. James Kondo, Co-Chair, Silicon Valley Japan Platform

Mr. Katsuaki Ogata, ex- Chairman, AllianceBernstein Japan Ltd.

Mr. Richard Reitknecht, Co-Founder, Asia Pacific Land Ltd

Mr. Edward Rogers, CEO, Rogers Investment Advisory

Mr. Shoji Tsuboyama, President, CapitaLink Inc.

[Asia 21]

Mr. Gen Kanai, Director, Asia Community Engagement, Mozilla

Mr. Yasumasa Yamamoto, Visiting Scientist, Harvard

and other guests