President Hu Jintao’s Visit: The Economic Challenges and Opportunities

On the eve of President Hu Jintao’s long-anticipated visit to Washington, critical economic policy issues loom large for both the U.S. and China. Over the past two decades, China has transformed into a major economic power and continues to play a growing role in the global community. Its ascension is likely to be one of our most complex and vital foreign policy challenges for many years to come. Heated policy debates surround China on currency revaluation, the magnitude of global economic imbalances, the current U.S. account deficit, and the ongoing accumulation of U.S. financial securities by the Chinese central bank.

To examine these issues, the Brookings Global Economy and Development Center, the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, and the China Initiative will co-host a discussion on the increasingly complicated economic relationship between the U.S. and China. A group of leading experts will participate: Wing Thye Woo, professor, University of California at Davis, and director, East Asia Program, Center on Globalization and Sustainable Development at Columbia University; Erik Berglöf, senior fellow, Global Economy and Development Center, Brookings, and chief economist, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and Jing Huang, senior fellow, China Initiative, Brookings. Lael Brainard, vice president and director of the Global Economy and Development Center will moderate the discussion.

A question and answer session will follow remarks.