The Future Direction of U.S. International Economic Policy

February 19, 2008, 12:00pm – 1:30pm

About This Event

Against the backdrop of slowing U.S. economic growth, rapid changes in the world economy, and ongoing public ambivalence regarding the benefits of globalization, some have called for a strategic review, or pause for reflection, with respect to U.S. international economic policy. Looking at trade as well as development and monetary policy, a distinguished panel of experts will discuss the possible future direction of U.S. policy in a new administration.

Please join us for this stimulating discussion stemming from "Virtuous Circle: Strengthening Broad-Based Global Progress in Living Standards," a recent report by Mr. Samans and Jonathan Jacoby as part of CAP's Progressive Growth series on the next administration's economic policy. "Virtuous Circle" – and a link to other Progressive Growth reports – can be found here. 

Opening Remarks:
Sarah Wartell, Executive Vice President, Center for American Progress

Presentation by:
Richard Samans, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; Managing Director, World Economic Forum

Discussants:
Tim Adams, Managing Director, The Lindsey Group; former Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs
Ron Blackwell, Chief Economist, AFL-CIO
Gene Sperling, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress; Director, Center for Universal Education, Council on Foreign Relations

Moderated by:
Bruce Stokes, International Economics Columnist, National Journal

Location

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Resources

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Biographies

Tim Adams is Managing Director of The Lindsey Group. Previously, Mr. Adams served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs. As Under Secretary, Mr. Adams was the Administration's point person on international financial issues, including exchange rate policy, G-7 meetings, and IMF and World Bank issues. He regularly interacted with counterparts in key emerging markets including China, India, and Brazil and traveled extensively throughout Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

Prior to assuming his post as Under Secretary, Mr. Adams had served as Chief of Staff to both Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Treasury Secretary John Snow. He was Policy Director for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign from November 2003 through the end of 2004 and also served as a full time member of the Bush-Cheney campaign staff in Austin in the 2000 campaign. Mr. Adams also served in the White House under the first President Bush at the Office of Policy Development.

In 1993, Mr. Adams co-founded the G-7 Group, a Washington-based advisory firm. He later headed their Washington operation as Managing Director. Mr. Adams holds a B.S. in Finance and a Masters in Public Administration and an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Kentucky.

Ron Blackwell is chief economist of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) where he coordinates the economic agenda of the federation and represents the AFL-CIO on corporate and economic issues affecting American workers and their unions.

Ron chairs the economic policy working group of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD and is a director of the Baltimore branch of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank. He recently won the Nat Weinberg Award for service to the labor movement and social justice.

Before coming to the AFL-CIO, Ron was assistant to the president of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union (ACTWU) and chief economist of UNITE. Before joining the labor movement, Ron was a faculty member and academic dean in the Seminar College of the New School where he taught economics, politics and philosophy.

Richard Samans is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and lead author of its recent report, "Virtuous Circle: Strengthening Broad-Based Global Progress in Living Standards." He is also Managing Director of the World Economic Forum, responsible for the Forum's public-private partnership initiatives and its relations with governments, international organizations, NGOs, unions and other non-business constituencies. A member of the Forum's managing board, Richard has developed the organization's portfolio of multi-stakeholder projects, which currently engage over 250 Forum member companies in action-or policy-oriented work in collaboration with experts from official, civil society, academic and other institutions, while helping to structure the global issues program content of the Forum's meetings.

Before joining the Forum in 2001, Richard served as Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Policy in the U.S. White House. As Senior Director of the National Security Council's International Economic Affairs directorate and a senior staff member of the National Economic Council, he assisted President Clinton on a broad range of international trade and financial policy matters. From 1996 - 1998, Richard served as Economic Policy Advisor to U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD). He assisted Senator Daschle and the Senate Democratic Caucus on international trade and monetary, tax, and broad economic policy issues. He served previously in a variety of roles in government, the private sector, and research institutions.

Gene Sperling is a Senior Fellow of Economic Policy at the Center for American Progress and the Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he served as National Economic Advisor to President Clinton from 1997-2001 and Deputy National Economic Advisor from 1993-1996. Sperling is the author of the book The Pro-Growth Progressive: An Economic Strategy for Shared Prosperity (Simon & Schuster) and his recent article, "Rising Tide Economics," appears in the September issue of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. Mr. Sperling is also a Contributing Editor and Columnist for Bloomberg News, a Governor of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and for four years was a consultant and contributing writer for the television show, "The West Wing."

In 2000, Mr. Sperling led the United States delegation to the UN World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, where he delivered one of the keynote addresses; he currently serves as the U.S. chair of the Global Campaign for Education. He co-authored a Council on Foreign Relations report, What Works in Girls' Education: Evidence and Policies from the Developing World and has written several essays calling for a strong global compact on education in such publications as Foreign Affairs, New York Times, Washington Post, Financial Times and the IMF Quarterly: Finance and Development.

Bruce Stokes is the international economics columnist for National Journal. He is coauthor of the 2006 book America Against the World: How We Are Different and Why We Are Disliked (Times Books). A former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Mr. Stokes is currently a journalism fellow at the German Marshall Fund and a consultant to the Pew Research Center. In 1987 and again in 1989, Mr. Stokes was a Japan Society Fellow, living in and reporting from Japan. In 2006, Mr. Stokes was honored by the Coalition of Service Industries for his reporting on services issues. In 2004, he was chosen by International Economy magazine as one of the most influential China watchers in the American press. In 1995, he was picked by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the "Best on Business" reporters in Washington. In 1989, Stokes won the coveted John Hancock award for excellence in business and economics reporting for his series on the impact of the rising yen on the Japanese economy. Stokes graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and has a master's degree from the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Sarah Wartell is an Executive Vice President for the Center for American Progress. One of the original architects of CAP's business plan, she has been responsible for building the institution, overseeing its operations, and strategic planning from its founding. Sarah served in the White House in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. Prior to serving at the White House, Sarah was a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Federal Housing Administration in the Department of Housing and Urban Development. She has served as a consultant to the Millennial Housing Commission and the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation. She also practiced law with the Washington, D.C. firm of Arnold & Porter and taught law and technology policy as an adjunct professor and visiting scholar at Georgetown University Law Center.