Charlene Barshefsky Biography

Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, Senior International Partner at WilmerHale in Washington, DC, advises multinational corporations on their market access, investment and acquisition strategies across the globe. She has long been renowned in the US and around the world for her negotiating, policy and legal skills in transactions with governments, state-owned enterprises and private parties. She joined WilmerHale after serving as the United States Trade Representative from 1997 to 2001 and acting and deputy USTR from 1993 to 1996. As the USTR and a member of the Presidents Cabinet, she was responsible for the formulation of US trade policy and the negotiation of hundreds of complex trade and investment agreements that significantly opened markets, removed regulatory barriers, and cemented protections for US investment from Europe to Asia, Africa to Latin America, and the Middle East. She also led the negotiation of global agreements to open the financial services and telecommunications sectors, remove global tariffs on information technology products, and protect intellectual property rights.

Ambassador Barshefsky is best known globally as the architect and negotiator of Chinas WTO agreement, which opened Chinas economy as a worldwide market. This agreement, of undisputed historical importance, has helped to reshape the global economic landscape. Her agreement to open the Vietnamese market was the cornerstone of the normalization of relations between the US and Vietnam; and her pursuit of pro-growth trade policies in the Middle East -through the initial creation of special economic zones to integrate Israel with her neighbors, and a Free Trade Agreement with Jordan - has been recognized as a foundation element for subsequent free trade initiatives with the Muslim Middle East.

A renowned figure among governments and policymakers around the world and in the legal profession, and long at center stage in the development of international trade policy, Ambassador Barshefsky has been honored by both Harvard and Yale law schools. Her negotiations are the subject of several Harvard Business School case studies; and her negotiating skills and legal talent have been heavily profiled in a large number of books, magazines and newspapers. She is a frequent lecturer and op-ed contributor in the US and abroad on trade and economic issues of importance, and is the recipient of a number of honorary degrees and numerous other accolades for lifetime achievement. She is recognized as one of the most influential lawyers in the United States, and is a member of a broad range of foreign policy-oriented and economic institutions devoted to public policy and international relations. Ambassador Barshefsky serves on the Boards of Directors of the American Express Company, the Estee Lauder Companies, Intel Corporation, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. She is a Trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and serves on the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations.

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