Thanks to Congressman Rob Wittman (VA-1) for kicking of launch of report by Global Fellow Matthew Zolnowski. Moderated panel discussion with Cobalt Institute Director General Dinah McLeod, Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy & the Environment Jonathan Fritz and Commercial Director of US Strategic Metals Mike Hollomon.

“The PRC is sidestepping U.S. tariffs by shipping intermediate goods from the PRC to countries in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, to be repackaged for export to the U.S. after various degrees of in-country processing,” the Wilson Center’s Kennedy said.

Briefed Rep. Greg Stanton (AZ-04) and Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-07) with Wilson Center colleagues Benjamin Gedan, Kellee Wicker and Diego Marroquin.

As my colleague Mark Kennedy and I wrote recently, in the aftermath of the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles brought on two decades of economic and political isolationism – and led the world directly into the Second World War. It was only after that vastly more destructive experience that the free world settled on the so-called “Washington Consensus” – a set of policy recommendations that, Kennedy wrote, “advocated for market-driven domestic economies and an openness to trade and investment.” It was this era of global engagement that established a global rules-based economic system, and that in turn led to unprecedented growth and prosperity for everyone including China.