Barbara Weisel is a nonresident scholar in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She recently retired as a managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors, an international economic policy advisory firm, where she focused on international trade and investment policy and negotiations as well as market access, regulatory matters, and digital trade issues.

Ms. Weisel has more than 25 years of experience in government advancing international trade and investment initiatives, expanding market access in Asia-Pacific markets, and resolving specific issues faced by businesses in the Asia-Pacific.

Ms. Weisel served as Assistant US Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. She was the US chief negotiator for the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) from its inception in 2008 through its signing in 2016.

In addition to TPP, Ms. Weisel led bilateral FTA negotiations with Malaysia and Thailand. She also led efforts to expand U.S. market access and promote U.S. economic interests in the Asia Pacific.
As Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Bilateral Asian Affairs (Korea, Southeast Asia, and South Asia), Ms. Weisel helped negotiate the FTAs with Australia and Singapore. Earlier, she served as the official responsible for managing global pharmaceutical regulatory issues and as director for Japan affairs.

Before joining USTR, she worked at the State Department from 1984-1994, serving in a variety of positions, including as international economist on Japan, the Persian Gulf countries, and North Africa.

Ms. Weisel earned two Masters’ Degrees from Harvard University in 1983 and a Bachelor’s degree from Connecticut College (Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude).

Michael Hart is President of the American Chamber of Commerce in China based in Beijing. He has over twenty-five years of business experience in Asia, including nineteen years in mainland China.

As President, Michael oversees all advocacy, programs, partnerships, and insights provided by the Chamber to support the business growth of nearly 900 foreign corporations operating in China, including most of the U.S. Fortune 500. The chamber’s advocacy includes the impressive American Business in China White Paper and Business Climate Survey each published annually as well as numerous interactions with both the US and Chinese governments on behalf of our members.

Prior to joining AmCham China, Michael spent most of his career in commercial real estate in Taipei, Shanghai and Tianjin including almost 20 years for a NYSE listed property services firm. He started in the research division briefing real estate owners, occupiers and investors on transactions and macro trends, he then opened, built, and led a branch office for the company in one of China’s largest Tier 1.5 cities for over a decade. Following this, Michael opened a private consulting and investment firm that among other projects invested in quick service restaurants.

In addition to this work, Michael was a long-term AmCham member and served on the Tianjin chapter’s Executive Committee for nearly 15 years including several terms as the local Chairman.

Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a focus on finance and banking from the University of Missouri-Columbia in the U.S. He is a fluent speaker of mandarin Chinese. Michael was born and raised near Kansas City, Missouri.