Free Trade Agreements: Implications of a Shifting Competitive Landscape
This panel will explore the U.S. agenda for opening new global markets for agriculture and other goods and services through free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, including the importance of reducing non-tariff barriers; the competitive landscape for U.S. goods and services in light of other countries’ pursuit of their own FTAs; and the implications for the United States of leaving the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
The Yeutter Institute's fall conference "What's on the Horizon for International Trade?" was presented in cooperation with the Nebraska Farm Bureau.
Melissa George Kessler
Melissa George Kessler is a process consultant, coach and professional communicator who serves as a member of Inspired-Inc.’s consulting team. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area, where she works at a non-profit export market development organization in the areas of process, strategy, capacity and international policy.
John Beghin
John is a faculty fellow with the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at UNL and with the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University.
Prior to joining UNL, John was a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ARE) at NC State University and Iowa State University. Beghin earned his MSc in agricultural economics at NC State and then received his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 1988. After returning to NC State for 10 years, Beghin went on to Iowa to serve as Director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute and Marlin Cole Professor of international agricultural economics at Iowa State University, from 1998 to 2016. Beghin returned to NC State in January 2017 and served as department head for 2 years.
Andrea Durkin
Andrea Durkin serves as vice president for international policy for the National Association of Manufacturers, working for the success of manufacturers by advancing trade policies that aims to unlock global opportunities for people who make things in America. She is one of the nation’s foremost experts on international policy, drawing from decades of experience serving in Democratic and Republican administrations. Immediately prior to joining the NAM, Andrea served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for World Trade Organization (WTO) and Multilateral Affairs. She led trade negotiations and U.S. policy at the WTO and was responsible for committees on industrial subsidies, technical barriers to trade, government procurement, trade facilitation, customs and others. She was also the U.S. senior official for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Trade Committee, G7 and G20 trade tracks. This was Andrea’s second stint in the Office of U.S. Trade Representative, after nearly two decades in the private sector as an entrepreneur, author and corporate government relations executive.