Even as the Trump Administration imposes tariff hikes on Chinese imports, the prospect of negotiating a new trade agreement, a so-called Phase Two deal, remains on the table. But how realistic is this possibility? What key elements would the United States need to include to make such a deal meaningful? What concessions would China demand in return? And what lessons can we draw from the Phase One negotiations and its implementation to guide this effort?
On Tuesday, April 22, WITA and the Asia Society Policy Institute hosted a discussion panel addressing all these questions.
Featured Speakers:
Christopher Adams, Senior Advisor, Covington & Burling LLP
Craig Allen, Senior Counselor, The Cohen Group; former President, US-China Business Council
Jeff Gerrish, Partner, Schagrin Associates; former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Industrial Competitiveness, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
Lingling Wei, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Moderator: Wendy Cutler, Vice President, Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI)
Speaker Biographies
Christopher Adams advises clients on matters involving China and the region. A non-lawyer, Chris served as the Senior Coordinator for China Affairs at the Treasury Department. He coordinated China policy issues across the U.S. government, led negotiations with China on a broad range of trade and investment issues, managed the highest level U.S.-China economic policy dialogues for the Obama and Trump administrations, and advised the Treasury Secretary and other cabinet officials.
Chris helped develop and implement U.S. trade policy toward China with the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) from 2007 to 2015 as Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for China Affairs, Senior Policy Advisor to the Deputy USTR, and Minister Counselor for Trade Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, USTR’s first representative in China.
Chris directed government affairs, public relations, and corporate marketing in China for the Eastman Kodak Company from 2001 to 2006 as Chief Representative for China; Vice President, North Asia Region; and Director, Olympic Programs. During this time, Chris was elected to four consecutive terms as a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in China and served on the Chamber’s Public Policy Development Committee.
Chris assisted companies with market access issues as a commercial officer in the U.S. Foreign Commercial Service in Beijing and Taipei, from 1993 to 2001. Before joining the Commerce Department, Chris managed media relations and information programs with the American Institute in Taiwan and directed business advisory services at a private trade association in Washington, DC.
Craig Allen joined The Cohen Group in 2025 after serving as the President of the US-China Business Council (USCBC) from 2018 to 2024, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization representing over 200 American companies doing business in China. Prior to his leadership at USCBC, Ambassador Allen was the United States Ambassador to Brunei Darussalam from December 19, 2014, to July 2018.
Before his ambassadorial role, Ambassador Allen had a long and distinguished career in US public service, primarily within the Department of Commerce. He served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the Department’s International Trade Administration and later as Deputy Assistant Secretary for China. His prior overseas assignments include serving as the Senior Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Beijing, where he held the Minister Counselor rank of the Senior Foreign Service. He also served as Senior Commercial Officer in South Africa and as Deputy Senior Commercial Officer at the US Embassy in Tokyo.
Earlier in his career, Ambassador Allen worked at the National Center for APEC in Seattle, contributing to APEC Summits in Brunei, China, and Mexico. He held commercial attaché positions at the U.S. Embassies in Beijing and Tokyo and at the American Institute in Taiwan, where he was Director of the American Trade Center in Taipei. He began his government career in 1985 as a Presidential Management Intern at the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, later serving as an international economist in its China Office.
Ambassador Allen holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Asian Studies from the University of Michigan and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
Wendy Cutler is Vice President at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) and the managing director of the Washington, D.C. office. In these roles, she focuses on leading initiatives that address challenges related to trade, investment, and innovation, as well as women’s empowerment in Asia. She joined ASPI following an illustrious career of nearly three decades as a diplomat and negotiator in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), where she also served as Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative. During her USTR career, she worked on a range of bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade negotiations and initiatives, including the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, U.S.-China negotiations, and the WTO Financial Services negotiations. She has published a series of ASPI papers on the Asian trade landscape and serves as a regular media commentator on trade and investment developments in Asia and the world.
Jeff Gerrish served as the Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Industrial Competitiveness from 2018 to 2020. In this role, he formulated and implemented U.S. trade policy for the regions and issues under his purview, led critically important trade negotiations, and developed and executed strategies to address trade barriers and unfair trade practices in countries around the world. Ambassador Gerrish served as the lead negotiator for the U.S.-China Economic and Trade Agreement and played a key role in the negotiation or renegotiation of several other major trade agreements, including the U.S.-Japan Trade Agreement, the U.S.-Japan Digital Trade Agreement, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement. While at USTR, Ambassador Gerrish was responsible for issues relating to steel trade policy, and he led USTR’s efforts on the actions taken on imports of steel and aluminum under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. From April 2018 to May 2019, Ambassador Gerrish also served as acting President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.
Ambassador Gerrish has extensive experience assisting companies in complex antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguards cases and in other high-stakes trade disputes before the U.S. government and foreign governments and institutions. He has litigated hundreds of cases before the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Court of International Trade, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, North American Free Trade Agreement binational panels, and World Trade Organization dispute settlement panels. In addition, Ambassador Gerrish has worked with clients on national security investigations under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and in investigations into unfair trade policies and practices before the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. He has achieved highly successful outcomes for clients in these matters in industries ranging from steel to geosynthetics.
Another important part of Ambassador Gerrish’s practice is advising clients regarding trade policy issues before the U.S. Congress and administration. He also works with clients in ongoing negotiations relating to international trade agreements. He advises clients on how such negotiations may affect their interests and operations and helps them to develop and execute strategies for the negotiations.
Ambassador Gerrish is a frequent speaker on international trade topics. He also was previously appointed (and reappointed) by the chief judge of the U.S. Court of International Trade to serve as a member of the court’s Rules Advisory Committee, and he served as co-chair of the International Trade Committee and a board member of the Customs and International Trade Bar Association. Ambassador Gerrish repeatedly has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America.
Lingling Wei is the chief China correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and author of the WSJ China newsletter. She covers China’s political economy, focusing on the intersection of business and politics. Born and raised in China, she has a master’s in journalism from N.Y.U., got her start covering U.S. real estate, and has won many awards for her China coverage. She was among a team of reporters and editors whose work was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2021. Lingling is co-author of the book “Superpower Showdown.”
Hosted in partnership with the Asia Society Policy Institute.
