Join U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai in conversation with Warren Maruyama. NAPABA in Conversation is an exclusive opportunity that connects you with diverse thought leaders who share their unique and powerful stories through a fully immersive digital experience.

In March 2021, Ambassador Katherine Tai was unanimously confirmed as the 19th United States Trade Representative. She is the first Asian American and first woman of color to hold the position. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, Ambassador Tai is the principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on U.S. trade policy. In December 2021, President Biden also appointed her as Co-Chair of White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

Join us for a conversation with Ambassador Tai as she discusses her dual roles in representing our nation’s trade policy internationally and her work in addressing issues of importance to the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community domestically.

This event is open to the press. For questions about this event, please contact Preet Lieu at plieu@napaba.org.

Bios:

Ambassador Katherine Tai was sworn in as the 19th United States Trade Representative on March 18, 2021. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, Ambassador Tai is the principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on U.S. trade policy.

Prior to her unanimous Senate confirmation, Ambassador Tai spent most of her career in public service focusing on international economic diplomacy, monitoring, and enforcement. She previously served as Chief Trade Counsel and Trade Subcommittee Staff Director for the House Ways and Means Committee in the United States Congress. In this capacity, Ambassador Tai played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. trade law, negotiations strategies, and bilateral and multilateral agreements, including the recently re-negotiated United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Ambassador Tai is an experienced World Trade Organization (WTO) litigator. She previously developed and tried cases for the Office of the United States Trade Representative, eventually becoming the Chief Counsel for China Trade Enforcement. Before transitioning to federal service, she practiced law in the private sector, clerked for district judges, and taught English in Guangzhou, China.

Ambassador Tai earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Yale University and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.  She is fluent in Mandarin.

Moderator Bio:   Warren Maruyama is a partner at Hogan Lovells where he focuses on assisting clients in dealing with cutting-edge trade policy challenges, including the Trump  Administration's efforts to  renegotiate the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and threats to impose higher duties on U.S. companies and U.S. trading partners under Sections 301, 232, and 201 of U.S. trade law. He  has advise d U.S. and multinational firms on U.S. trade policy and trade law mechanisms , World Trade Organization (WTO) disputes , and an array of trade challenges, including the NAFTA, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Brexit, China's WTO accession and the Congressional PNTR votes, and U.S.-China negotiations.

Warren served as General Counsel of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR)  from 2007-2009, where he oversaw the filing of 10 U.S. WTO and bilateral challenges to foreign trade barriers; helped lead Doha Round and FTA negotiations; oversaw USTR's roles in the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue and Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade; and helped negotiate the "May 10" agreement between the Bush Administration and House Democratic Leadership, which resolved a decade-long impasse over the role of labor and environmental rules in U.S. FTAs and cleared the way for Congressional approval of the Peru, Korea, Panama, and Colombia FTAs.   Earlier in his career, he served on the White House  Policy Development staff and as an Associate General Counsel at USTR.  He started his career as a staff attorney at the U.S. International Trade Commission .

Warren is a longstanding NAPABA member, who serves on the National Advisory Committee for Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, and on the Board of Governors of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, and on the Advisory Committee for the Clayton Yeutter Institute for International Trade and Finance at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and co-chairs the Asian American Affinity Group at Hogan Lovells.  He is a graduate of Carleton College and the Cornell Law School.