President Donald Trump has talked tough on trade ever since he first hit the campaign trail. He criticized China for a massive U.S. trade deficit. He also said the North American Free Trade Agreement was bad for the United States. Once in office, he fulfilled a campaign promise of pulling the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama, which Congress had not yet approved. Since that time, international trade issues have continued to be at the forefront of President Trump’s agenda.
For SABEW’s September training session, we’ll dive into the difficult task of covering international trade in the era of President Trump. A panel of experts and experienced journalists will discuss the latest developments in international trade discussions, offer historical perspectives on the topic and provide thoughts on what journalists may be overlooking in their coverage.Â
Moderator
Rich Barbieri is the executive editor of CNNMoney, overseeing digital coverage and newsgathering for CNN’s worldwide coverage of brands, media, markets, economics, technology, and personal finance.Prior to joining CNN, Barbieri worked for 15 years at American Lawyer Media as a reporter and editor covering law, business and government in New York, Washington and San Francisco. He has also worked as New York news editor at the Associated Press and as managing editor of Crain’s New York Business. He won an AP reporting award in 1992 for coverage of California’s first execution in decades, and his newsrooms have won more than 100 editorial and design awards from local and national journalism organizations.
Panelists
Gary Hufbauer is a senior fellow at the Petersen Institute for International Economics in Washington, who has written extensively on international trade, NAFTA, investment, and tax issues. His previous positions include the Maurice Greenberg Chair and Director of Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Marcus Wallenberg Professor of International Finance Diplomacy at Georgetown University, and deputy director of the International Law Institute at Georgetown University. Gary also served in the U.S. Treasury Department as deputy assistant secretary, where he was responsible for trade and investment policy during the Tokyo Round of multilateral trade negotiations, and as director of the international tax staff. The most recent books he has coauthored include Bridging the Pacific: Toward Free Trade and Investment between China and the United States and Economic Normalization with Cuba: A Roadmap for US Policymakers.
Joshua Teitelbaum is counsel in the public law and policy practice and advises clients across a diverse array of industries on issues related to trade and health policy, among others at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Prior to his current role, Teitelbaum served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Textiles, Consumer Goods and Materials with the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. While serving in this role, he was a policy-maker for, and public advocate of, the Obama administration’s highest international trade priorities. His work included substantial contributions to the development of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the DOC’s implementation of the conflict minerals provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, among other multilateral, regional and bilateral trade initiatives. His work spanned a broad cross section of U.S. industries, including textiles, apparel, home furnishings, processed foods, distilled spirits, recreational transportation, cosmetics, chemicals, and building materials. He also served as the chairman of the Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, which supervises the negotiation and implementation of textile and apparel agreements.
Prior to his role at the DOC, Teitelbaum served as staff director for the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Subcommittee on Children & Families; as legislative assistant to Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC); and as legislative counsel to Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), where he advised on a wide range of issues, including health care, international trade, education and financial services. His experience in the Senate included advising Senator Hagan on international trade policy during Senate floor consideration of three U.S. free trade agreements as well as the negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Doug Palmer is senior trade reporter at Politico and one of the most experienced trade reporters in Washington after nearly 15 years on the beat. He was on the scene when efforts to launch world trade talks failed in Seattle in 1999 to the delight of thousands of protesters who clashed with police throughout the week. Since then, Palmer has covered trade negotiations with more than a dozen countries as well as the long-running Doha round of world trade negotiations, which was launched in 2001 and still has not successfully concluded. Palmer’s job currently includes keeping tabs on trade frictions with China and negotiations on two huge regional free regional trade agreements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.
Kristi Ellis is a retail editor for S&P Global Market Intelligence and former Washington bureau chief for Women’s Wear Daily. Prior to joining S&P, she was a trade reporter in Washington for 16 years. She covered negotiations on several trade deals and developed a deep understanding of Washington trade policy, spanning three administrations. Ellis was on hand for the World Trade Organization’s Doha ministerial round in Cancun, Mexico in 2003 and filed a series of stories on the intensifying disputes that ultimately led to the collapse of those talks. She has covered several national political conventions, including the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia where anti-TPP tensions were running high and trade was a key campaign issue. Her current job as a retail editor involves training and guiding a team of reporters, including a policy reporter covering the Trump administration’s trade agenda.
