U.S. Tariff Policy, American Business in China, & the Global Economic Order

Join us for an exclusive conversation with Craig Allen, former President of the U.S.-China Business Council, and Brad W. Setser, Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, as they sit down with Susan Yuqing Feng, Director of Programs at the China Institute in America, to examine the lasting impact of U.S. tariff policies, the evolving landscape for American businesses in China, and shifts in the global economic order.

Craig Allen will share insights from his decades in U.S.-China economic diplomacy, offering an insider perspective on how tariffs have reshaped trade relations, global supply chains, and multilateral institutions. Brad Setser will provide a macroeconomic view on trade, capital flows, and market stability. This timely discussion will explore how today’s policies are redefining global trade and U.S.-China relations.

If you cannot attend in-person, you can watch the livestream .

On February 4, 2025, Craig Allen joined The Cohen Group in Washington, D.C. as a senior counselor. The Cohen Group provides strategic advice and practical assistance to a broad range of clients.

Craig joined The Cohen Group after 6 years serving as the President of the US-China Business Council, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing over 270 American companies doing business with China.

Prior to joining USCBC, Craig had a long, distinguished career in US public service.

Craig began his government career in 1985 at the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration (ITA). He entered government as a Presidential Management Intern, rotating through the four branches of ITA.

From 1986 to 1988, he was an international economist in ITA’s China Office. In 1988, Craig transferred to the American Institute in Taiwan, where he served as Director of the American Trade Center in Taipei.

He held this position until 1992, when he returned to the Department of Commerce for a three-year posting at the US Embassy in Beijing as Commercial Attaché.

In 1995, Craig was assigned to the US Embassy in Tokyo, where he served as a Commercial Attaché. In 1998, he was promoted to Deputy Senior Commercial Officer.

In 1999, Craig became a member of the Senior Foreign Service. From 2000, Craig served a two-year tour at the National Center for APEC in Seattle. While there, he worked on the APEC Summits in Brunei, China, and Mexico.

In 2002, it was back to Beijing, where Craig served as the Senior Commercial Officer. In Beijing, Craig was promoted to the Minister Counselor rank of the Senior Foreign Service.

After a four-year tour in South Africa, in 2010, Craig became Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. He later became Deputy Assistant Secretary for China.

Craig was sworn in as the United States ambassador to Brunei Darussalam on December 19, 2014. He served there until July 2018, when he transitioned to President of the US-China Business Council.

Craig received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in Political Science and Asian Studies in 1979. He received a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1985.

Brad W. Setser

Brad W. Setser is the Whitney Shepardson senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His expertise includes global trade and capital flows, financial vulnerability analysis, and sovereign debt restructuring. He regularly blogs at Follow the Money.

Setser served as a senior advisor to the United States Trade Representative from 2021 to 2022, where he worked on the resolution of a number of trade disputes. He had previously served as the deputy assistant secretary for international economic analysis in the U.S. Treasury from 2011 to 2015, where he worked on Europe’s financial crisis, currency policy, financial sanctions, commodity shocks, and Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, and as a director for international economics on the staff of the National Economic Council and the National Security Council.

He is the author of Sovereign Wealth and Sovereign Power (CFR, 2008) and the coauthor, with Nouriel Roubini, of Bailouts and Bail-ins: Responding to Financial Crises in Emerging Economies (Peterson Institute, 2004). His work has been published in Foreign Affairs, Finance and Development, Global Governance and Georgetown Journal of International Law, among others.

Setser was a senior fellow at CFR from 2016 to 2020, a fellow from 2007 to 2009, and an international affairs fellow in 2003. He also has been a visiting scholar at the International Monetary Fund. He holds a BA from Harvard University, a masters from Sciences-Po Paris, and an MA and PhD in international relations from Oxford University.

Susan Yuqing Feng

Susan Yuqing Feng joined China Institute as Director of Programs in October of 2023. Before joining CI, Susan was the Editor in Chief of Bitpush News, a leading block chain media based in New York and a columnist for the Financial Times Chinese Edition.

Throughout her journalism career, Susan conducted interviews with a multitude of world economic and political leaders, including Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Alan Greenspan, Paul Volker, President Clinton, Zbigniew Brzeziński, Michael Bloomberg, Thomas Friedman, and many more. Susan has also directed the documentary series “World Movers” which was released in March 2018. It illustrated the emerging new world order 70 years after WWII, shedding light on what has changed the U.S. and the world and the forces affecting everyone. It focused on the relationships between technology and globalization, the impact on immigration, and the future of U.S.-China relations.

Susan graduated from Columbia University and got her MA in International Affairs.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

China Institute in America, 100 Washington Street, New York, United States