Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, Chair of Parkside Global Advisors, Washington DC,
advises multinational companies on their global market access, investment and negotiation
strategies. She previously served as Senior International Partner at WilmerHale where she
chaired the firm’s International Trade, Investment and Market Access Group. 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 United States Trade Representative and a member of the President’s Cabinet,
Ambassador Barshefsky was responsible for the formulation of U.S. trade policy and the
negotiation of hundreds of complex trade and investment agreements that significantly
opened markets, removed regulatory barriers and cemented protections for U.S. 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.
Among her historic agreements, Ambassador Barshefsky is best known globally as the
architect and negotiator of China’s WTO agreement, which opened China’s economy as a
worldwide market. Her agreement to open the Vietnamese market was a cornerstone of the
normalization of relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. Similarly, Ambassador
Barshefsky’s 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 foundational element for subsequent
trade and economic initiatives with the Muslim Middle East.
Long renowned in the U.S. and around the world for her negotiating, policy and strategic
skills in transactions with governments, state-owned enterprises and private companies,
Ambassador Barshefsky has been honored by both Harvard and Yale law schools. Her
negotiations with China are the subject of several Harvard Business School case studies; and
her negotiating and strategic skills have been heavily profiled in a large number of books,
magazines, and newspapers. She is a lecturer and op-ed contributor in the U.S. and abroad
on trade and international economic issues of importance and is the recipient of a number
of honorary degrees and numerous other accolades for lifetime achievement. She has been
formally recognized as one of the most influential lawyers in the United States.
Ambassador Barshefsky serves on the Boards of Directors of the Estee Lauder Companies
and Stagwell Inc, and formerly served on the boards of the American Express Company,
Intel Corporation and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. She is a Trustee of the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a Director of the Climate Leadership Council, and a
Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is also an advisor to a broad array of
foreign policy-oriented and economic institutions devoted to public policy and international
relations.