For years, for most of us, news on global trade mostly hid out in the pages of The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times. Not anymore. as the U.S. is threatening and hitting friend and foe with punitive tariffs. The rules-based system that has been governing global trade seems to be evaporating in front of our eyes.

What does that mean for consumers, companies, and governments in Europe and Asia? A Closer Look: Trade brings you insights from both continents. Renowned trade policy experts Deborah Elms, based in Singapore, and Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, who is in Brussels, try to make sense of the rapid changes, in conversation with Remko Tanis, Managing Editor at Asia Society Switzerland.

SPEAKERS

Deborah Elms is Head of Trade Policy at the Hinrich Foundation in Singapore. Prior to joining the Foundation, she was the Executive Director and Founder of the Asian Trade Centre (ATC). She was also President of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA) and the Board Director of the Asian Trade Centre Foundation (ATCF). She serves on the board of the Trade and Investment Negotiation Adviser (TINA) at the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP), was on the International Advisory Council for APCO (2021-2023) and was a member of the International Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Trade Professionals Alliance and Chair of the Working Group on Trade Policy and Law. She was also a member of the World Economic Forum's Trade and Investment Council for 2018-2020. She has a PhD in political science from the University of Washington, an MA in International Relations from the University of Southern California, and bachelor’s degrees from Boston University. She routinely appears in global media to comment on trade and economic issues.

Hosuk Lee-Makiyama is the director of the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) in Brussels and a leading author on trade diplomacy, EU-Far East relations and the digital economy. He is also a Fellow at the department of International Relations at the London School of Economics. He is regularly consulted by governments and international organizations on a range of issues, from trade negotiations to economic reforms. He appears regularly in European, Chinese and U.S. media, and is noted for his involvement in WTO and major free trade agreements. He was also named 'One of the twenty most influential people for open internet’ by the Guardian in 2012. He was the first author to argue for a WTO case on internet censorship in China. Prior to joining ECIPE, Hosuk was an independent counsel on regulatory affairs, competition and communication, Senior Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representative of Sweden and the EU member states towards the WTO and the UN, including WIPO and UNECE.