China and the WTO: A 20 Year Review

– [Moderator] Clark Packard, Resident Fellow and Trade Policy Counsel, R Street Institute
– Simon Lester, President, China Trade Monitor
– Huan Zhu, Vice-President, China Trade Monitor
– Mary Lovely, Professor of Economics, Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics

After intense protest and protracted negotiations, China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December of 2001. Beijing’s place in the rules-based trading system was secured. Yet over time, the U.S.-China economic relationship began to change and has shifted rapidly in recent years. From a protracted trade war and temporary détente, to a new American presidential administration and the rise of Xi Jinping, the U.S.-China economic relationship has undergone a series of political shifts with profound ramifications for the future of global commerce.

Simon Lester and Huan Zhu, the creators of chinatrademonitor.com, a new website that provides analysis on the complexities of the U.S.-China economic relationship, as well as Dr. Mary Lovely of the Peterson Institute for International Economics join R Street’s Clark Packard for a discussion on economic issues and relations between the world’s two largest economies.

We invite you to join our online discussion about the past, present and future of the U.S.-China trade and investment relationship and what it means more broadly for the WTO and for the rules-based trading system.