In this episode, Fredrik Erixon talks to Keith Rockwell and Stuart Harbinson about the US trade policy and America’s role in the world economic order, specifically, how does the Biden administration think about trade?
Keith M. Rockwell is a Senior Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation. Before his retirement in June 2022, Keith served as a Director at the World Trade Organization (WTO) and spokesperson for the organization for over 25 years. He was responsible for the WTO’s interaction with media, business, civil society and parliamentarians. Before joining the WTO, Rockwell worked as a reporter, editor and columnist for 16 years at the Journal of Commerce. He also is Global Fellow at the Wilson Center.
Stuart Harbinson had a distinguished career in public service in Hong Kong. From 1994 to 2002, he represented Hong Kong and then the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China at the WTO in Geneva. He subsequently joined the WTO Secretariat as Chief of Staff to Director-General Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi and then became Senior Adviser to Director-General Pascal Lamy. He has rich experience as a former Chairman of a number of WTO bodies, including the TRIPS and Services Councils and the Dispute Settlement Body. He was Chairman of the WTO’s overarching body, the General Council overseeing preparations for the launch of the Doha round and of the negotiating group handling the formative stages of the Doha negotiations on agriculture.