Thursday, January 10, 2019 | 8:00 AM EST - 12:15 PM EST
The Citigroup Center |, New York, NY
The United States and China embarked on a full-scale trade war in 2018, with both sides lobbing threats of new tariffs. While such protectionist actions threaten serious damage to the global economy, the Chinese and American economies have the most at stake. Furthermore, in the third quarter of 2018 China’s economy is growing at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis, with GDP growth dropping to 6.5%, falling short of market expectations.
How will the Chinese leadership, under President Xi Jinping, confront these challenges? Is China still following a path of “reform and opening up?” Could the predicted slowdown worsen?
The National Committee and Peking University’s China Center for Economic Research once again brought together leading Chinese and American economists for a half-day conference in New York City to discuss the economic outlook for 2019.
Topics included:
- Is an agreement to end the U.S.-China trade war possible?
- The impacts of the trade war on the U.S., Chinese, and global markets
- Progress and challenges in structural reform
- Risks and opportunities in China’s economy in 2019 and beyond
- Cross-border capital flows and financial deleveraging
- Expected reforms for China in 2019
Keynote Speakers
Justin Yifu Lin
Justin Yifu Lin, Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago, is director of Center for New Structural Economics, dean of Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development, and professor and honorary dean of the National School of Development at Peking University (PKU). He was the senior vice president and chief economist of the World Bank, 2008-2012.
Dr. Lin served for 15 years as founding director and professor of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University. He is the author of 23 books. He is councilor of the State Council, a member of the Standing Committee, Chinese People’s Political Consultation Conference, and vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. He is a corresponding fellow of the British Academy and a fellow of the Academy of Sciences for Developing World.
Qin Xiao
Qin Xiao, who received his Ph.D. in economics from Cambridge University, is a council member of the FSDC (Financial Services Development Council, HK) and guest professor at Tsinghua University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He served as chairman of China Merchants Group and China Merchants Bank; president and vice chairman of China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC); and chairman of CITIC Industrial Bank. He was a deputy to the Ninth National People’s Congress, a member of the 10th and 11th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and an advisor on the Foreign Currency Policy of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. He also served as chairman of APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for 2001. His papers and books in economics, management, and social transformation have been published in China and abroad.
Moderators
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera is a member of the board of directors of Beneficient, a financial services firm, and is a contributor to CNBC. Caruso-Cabrera spent more than 20 years at CNBC, most recently as chief international correspondent and co-anchor of “Power Lunch.” Throughout her career, Caruso-Cabrera has covered a wide range of stories including the 2008 financial crisis, U.S. elections, the debt crisis in Greece, and Brexit. She has traveled the world reporting live from Cuba, Iran, Ukraine, Iraq, Italy, Russia, Venezuela and other Latin American countries, among many others.
She joined CNBC from WTSP-TV in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she spent four years as a general assignment reporter covering crime and hurricanes. Prior to that, Caruso-Cabrera was a special projects producer for Univision where she gained experience covering Latin America. She began her career in 1990 while in college, as a stringer for The New York Times, reporting for the education section. Caruso-Cabrera wrote her first book, You Know I’m Right: More Prosperity, Less Government, in 2010. Previously, she wrote a personal finance column for Shape en Español and People en Español.
She has also been awarded Broadcaster of the Year from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and was named one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics” in the country by Hispanic Business magazine. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Wellesley College.
Stephen A. Orlins
Stephen A. Orlins has been president of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations since May 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Orlins was the managing director of Carlyle Asia and the chairman of the board of Taiwan Broadband Communications, one of Taiwan’s largest cable television and high speed internet providers. Prior to joining Carlyle, he was a senior advisor to AEA Investors Inc., a New York based leveraged buyout firm, with responsibility for AEA’s business activities throughout Asia.
From 1983 to 1991, Mr. Orlins was with the investment banking firm of Lehman Brothers where he was a managing director from 1985 to 1991. From 1987 to 1990, he served as president of Lehman Brothers Asia. Based in Hong Kong, he supervised over 150 professionals with offices in Hong Kong, Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Manila and Singapore. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Orlins practiced law with Coudert Brothers and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison in New York, Hong Kong and Beijing.
From 1976 to 1979, Mr. Orlins served in the Office of the Legal Advisor of the United States Department of State, first in the Office of the Assistant Legal Advisor for Political-Military Affairs and then for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. While in that office, he was a member of the legal team that helped establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
Mr. Orlins is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and earned his law degree at Harvard Law School. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1992, Mr. Orlins was the Democratic nominee for the United States Congress in New York’s Third Congressional District.