EU Open Strategic Autonomy and the Transatlantic Trade Relationship

The European Union has recently made “Open Strategic Autonomy” the cornerstone of its approach to trade policy. During this webinar, panelists will address what is behind this idea and what it means for cooperation on WTO reform, common trade policy challenges from China, and creating new rules for the digital economy and AI. With the U.S. presidential election less than two months away, the webinar will also examine the outlook for transatlantic trade relations under either a second Trump or a new Biden administration.

Sabine Weyand is the Director-General for Trade at the European Commission. Before assuming this role, she was the Deputy Chief Negotiator of the Commission Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 of the TEU from October 2016 to May 2019. A skilled trade negotiator, Dr. Weyand was the Director in the Secretariat-General of the Commission in charge of policy coordination on economic, social and environmental policies from 2014 to 2016. She joined the European Commission in 1994 and has held prominent roles under the Cabinets of Pascal Lamy, President Barroso, and Louis Michel. Sabine Weyand is a graduate of Freiburg University, where she studied Political Science, Economics, English literature, and Linguistics, including a year of study at the University of Cambridge. She received her M.A. from Freiburg University, her diploma in Advanced European Studies from the College of Europe, and her Ph.D. in political science from Tübingen University with a Ph.D. thesis on “The EC Common Transport Policy – a Study in EU policy-making.”

Kellie Meiman Hock is Managing Partner at McLarty Associates. In addition, she has led the Brazil & Southern Cone and trade practices of McLarty Associates since 2000. During this time, Ms. Meiman has helped major multinational companies in this dynamic region and beyond to take advantage of opportunities, as well as to troubleshoot obstacles to market access and investment. She has worked on various aspects of national industrial policies, ranging from local content requirements to data localization and trade remedies. Ms. Meiman has been deeply engaged in companies’ efforts to manage increased unilateral US trade actions, as well as US/Mexico/Canada Agreement (USMCA) implementation. Ms. Meiman previously worked at the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) as Director for Brazil and the Southern Cone, where she had primary responsibility for trade negotiations with Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Prior to her work at USTR, Ms. Meiman served as a foreign service officer with the US Department of State, where her posts included handling crisis management in the State Operations Center. An Economic Officer in the foreign service, Ms. Meiman previously had served in Porto Alegre, São Paulo, and Recife, Brazil, and in Bogotá, Colombia. She has lived and studied in Central America and Japan. Ms. Meiman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Inter-American Dialogue. She sits on the board of the Brazil-US Business Council. She also is Chairwoman of the Chile-based development NGO América Solidaria US. Ms. Meiman often writes and speaks on policy matters related to trade, Brazil, and Latin America. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, Ms. Meiman is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.

Mary E. Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, is a Professor of Economics at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, where she combines interests in international economics and public economics.   She was a co-editor of the China Economic Review from 2011-2015.  Her current research projects investigate the pollution content of Chinese exports, market access and cross-city wage variation, the effect of tariff reductions on labor shares of value in Chinese manufacturing firms, and the nature of Chinese trade flows. She has recently completed work on the relationship between employment at American manufacturing firms and outsourcing to low-income countries, and the roles of provincial differences in environmental policy and labor conditions in directing foreign direct investment flows to Chinese provinces. Dr. Lovely’s earlier work considered the measurement of labor market effects of increased international trade, the distributional effects of industrial policy, the geographic concentration of exporting firms, and the welfare effects of smuggling. Dr. Lovely earned her Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Harvard University.  She has taught at Syracuse University since 1988. From 2011-2017 she directed SU’s International Relations Program and from 2015-2017 she served as Faculty Representative to the University’s Board of Trustees.

Daniel M. Price is Managing Director of Rock Creek Global Advisors, an international economic policy advisory firm, where he focuses on international regulatory and policy matters. Mr. Price is currently advising multinational companies, financial institutions, and trade associations on trade policy, financial regulatory issues, geopolitical risk, and matters arising in global forums (G7, G20, and APEC). Mr. Price co-founded Rock Creek Global Advisors in July 2011. Previously, Mr. Price served in the Administration of George W. Bush as the senior White House official responsible for international trade and investment, development assistance, and the international aspects of financial reform, energy security, and climate change. Mr. Price was the President’s personal representative to the G8, the G20 Financial Summit, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. He was US chair of cabinet-level economic dialogues with Brazil, India, and the European Union. Before and after his White House service, Mr. Price was a partner with Sidley Austin LLP, having founded and chaired the firm’s 60-member International Trade & Dispute Resolution group. Mr. Price counseled multinational companies on trade, investment, national security, and sanctions issues, and represented companies and governments in WTO, investment treaty, and NAFTA disputes. Earlier, Mr. Price served as Principal Deputy General Counsel in the Office of the US Trade Representative and as Deputy Agent to the Iran-US Claims Tribunal in The Hague. Mr. Price has appeared on BBC, CNBC, PBS, and Bloomberg TV. His articles have been published in the New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Price was educated at Haverford College, Cambridge University, and Harvard Law School, where he was an Articles Editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Peter S. Rashish (moderator) is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Geoeconomics Program at AGI. He also writes The Wider Atlantic blog. Mr. Rashish has served as Vice President for Europe and Eurasia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he spearheaded the Chamber’s advocacy for an ambitious and comprehensive trade agreement between the United States and the European Union, later officially launched as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Previously, Mr. Rashish was a Senior Advisor for Europe at McLarty Associates, and has held positions as Executive Vice President of the European Institute, on the Paris-based staff of the International Energy Agency, and as a consultant to the World Bank, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Atlantic Council, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Mr. Rashish has testified on the euro zone and U.S.-European economic relations before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy and Trade and the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia and has advised two U.S. presidential campaigns. He has been a member of the faculty at the Salzburg Global Seminar and a speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival. His commentaries have been published in The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, and Foreign Policy and he has appeared on PBS, CNBC, CNN, and NPR. He earned his B.A. from Harvard College and an M.Phil. in international relations from Oxford University. He speaks French, German, Italian, and Spanish.