Episode 46: Transatlantic Trade Policy for the Future: Climate, WTO, and China

Cecilia Malmström

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Cecilia Malmström is a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, where she hosts PIIE's Trade Winds biweekly virtual discussion series. She is also a visiting professor at the School of Business, Economics, and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

She previously served as European commissioner for trade from 2014 to 2019 and as European commissioner for home affairs from 2010 to 2014. She was first elected as a member of the European Parliament in 1999, serving until 2006, and was minister for EU affairs in the Swedish government from 2006 to 2010. She holds a PhD in political science from the department of political science of the University of Gothenburg.

Jeffrey Rathke

Jeff Rathke

President of AGI

Jeffrey Rathke is the President of the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.

Prior to joining AICGS, Jeff was a senior fellow and deputy director of the Europe Program at CSIS, where his work focused on transatlantic relations and U.S. security and defense policy. Jeff joined CSIS in 2015 from the State Department, after a 24-year career as a Foreign Service Officer, dedicated primarily to U.S. relations with Europe. He was director of the State Department Press Office from 2014 to 2015, briefing the State Department press corps and managing the Department's engagement with U.S. print and electronic media. Jeff led the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur from 2011 to 2014. Prior to that, he was deputy chief of staff to the NATO Secretary General in Brussels. He also served in Berlin as minister-counselor for political affairs (2006–2009), his second tour of duty in Germany. His Washington assignments have included deputy director of the Office of European Security and Political Affairs and duty officer in the White House Situation Room and State Department Operations Center.

Mr. Rathke was a Weinberg Fellow at Princeton University (2003–2004), winning the Master’s in Public Policy Prize. He also served at U.S. Embassies in Dublin, Moscow, and Riga, which he helped open after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Mr. Rathke has been awarded national honors by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as several State Department awards. He holds an M.P.P. degree from Princeton University and B.A. and B.S. degrees from Cornell University. He speaks German, Russian, and Latvian.

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jrathke@aicgs.org

Peter S. Rashish

Vice President; Director, Geoeconomics Program

Peter S. Rashish, who counts over 30 years of experience counseling corporations, think tanks, foundations, and international organizations on transatlantic trade and economic strategy, is Vice President and Director of the Geoeconomics Program at AICGS. 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 ahead of the launch of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Previously, Mr. Rashish was a Senior Advisor for Europe at McLarty Associates, Executive Vice President of the European Institute, and a staff member and consultant at the International Energy Agency, the World Bank, UNCTAD, the Atlantic Council, the Bertelsmann Foundation, and the German Marshall Fund.

Mr. Rashish has testified 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 three U.S. presidential campaigns. He has been a featured speaker at the Munich Security Conference, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and the Salzburg Global Seminar and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Jean Monnet Institute in Paris and a Senior Advisor to the European Policy Centre in Brussels. His commentaries have been published in The New York Times, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, and The National Interest, and he has appeared on PBS, CNBC, CNN, and NPR.

He earned a BA from Harvard College and an MPhil in international relations from Oxford University. He speaks French, German, Italian, and Spanish.


Trade is one of the most important elements in the transatlantic relationship, and the values of open and fair competition have underpinned efforts by the United States and the European Union to uphold the rules-based international trading system. Since the arrival of the Biden administration, the two economic superpowers have taken steps to reduce bilateral trade frictions and launched several initiatives aimed at enhancing their cooperation on global economic strategy.

On this episode of The Zeitgeist, AGI President Jeff Rathke and Geoeconomics Program Director Peter Rashish discuss the future of transatlantic trade policy with Cecilia Malmström, nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and former European Commissioner for trade. What is the state of the EU’s trade policy? How is the incoming German government likely to influence the bloc’s trade agenda? What should be the focus of the next U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) summit? And how can Washington and Brussels work together to reform the WTO in areas like climate and the role of non-market economies?


Host

Jeff Rathke, President, AGI

Guest

Cecilia Malmström, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Peter Rashish, Senior Fellow and Director, Geoeconomics Program, AGI

The views expressed are those of the author(s) alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the American-German Institute.