Trade Policy in Trump’s First Treasury
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 | 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Major trade deals can take years, and are built through backroom deals, last-minute concessions, and decisions made under pressure from many sources. China and the United States are each among the other’s largest trading partners, but they are also the other’s greatest economic and geopolitical rival, and diplomacy between them is high stakes. Mitchell A. Silk applied his expertise in Chinese law and finance to the negotiations to cool the U.S.-China trade war, serving as a senior Treasury negotiator during the first Trump administration, helping shape U.S. international economic policy at one of the most volatile moments in recent history. He was also involved in the rollout of the CARES Act, managing the COVID-wrought economic crisis response. He designed and implemented the first Trump administration’s approach in the Western Hemisphere, promoting growth and global financing into Latin America and Africa as well.
What can the economic decisions of the first Trump administration tell us about the second—and what does a durable U.S. strategy toward China look like?
What was the process behind economic decisions made during the first Trump administration, and what can that process tell us about the second? What does a durable, long-term framework for engaging with China look like? Are tariffs a tool of the current round of negotiation or a fixture of future policy, and are they effective?
Join us on Tuesday, October 6 for an in-person discussion with Mitchell A. Silk, former Assistant Secretary for International Markets at the U.S. Department of the Treasury during the first Trump administration, one of the primary architects of the 2019 China Phase One deal, and author of A Seat at the Table: An Inside Account of Trump’s Global Economic Revolution
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SPEAKER:
Mitchell A. Silk
Mitchell A. Silk is an author, lawyer, public servant, and community leader whose career spans Wall Street, Washington, Asia and Latin America. He is the former Assistant Secretary for International Markets at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Trump 45) and the first Hassidic Jew to ever serve in a Presidentially nominated and Senate-confirmed role. He currently serves as Group General Counsel of Waterton Global Resources and IJW Whiskey.
With Chassidic roots in the shtetl of Nadvorna, Ukraine, Mitch grew up with the values of perseverance, service, and faith. As a teenager, he went from scrubbing dishes in a Chinese restaurant to mastering both Cantonese and Mandarin, later becoming one of the few Wall Street lawyers fluent in both. This unusual skill shaped a career that would carry him from Hong Kong boardrooms to Beijing negotiating tables and ultimately to the highest levels of U.S. government.
For over 30 years, Mitch practiced law at leading Wall Street firms, including Allen & Overy (now AO Shearman), Hughes Hubbard & Reed, and Chadbourne & Parke. He became a recognized expert in large, complex, cross-border energy and infrastructure projects, as well as finance and financial regulation, and asset management. He advised on many landmark projects in in the U.S., Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Known for combining technical mastery with cultural fluency, he earned a reputation as a trusted adviser able to bridge divides, most times with a well-placed Yiddish proverb and a shared meal.
At Treasury, Mitch advanced U.S. interests on financial stability, trade, development, and regulatory issues, while promoting growth, particularly through global energy and infrastructure financing agreements. Mitch led the three-year effort to craft a major new trade agreement with China. He designed the global infrastructure financing initiative, through which the United States helped dozens of Latin American and Asian countries unleash value in their energy and infrastructure sectors. He also built and implemented the $94 billion program (under the CARES Act) to assist American aviation during the pandemic, saving more than 600,000 American jobs.
Mitch is a regular speaker on trade, infrastructure and energy, and financial regulation and fintech throughout the world, and a leader in the orthodox Jewish community. He has served in many leadership roles in Jewish organizations around the globe, and is currently active in pro bono legal work for Jewish families and organizations in the US. In addition to A Seat at the Table, an account of his work at Treasury as told through his personal lens of faith and shared experience, and a number of books on law and finance, he published a three volume, 2,000 page translation of the Chassidic classic Kedushas Levi with ArtScroll.
ABOUT “A SEAT AT THE TABLE”
“From the trade negotiations with China to implementing the CARES Act during the pandemic, Mitchell A. Silk played a critical role during some of the most challenging economic moments in recent history.”
—Steven T. Mnuchin, 77th Secretary of the US Treasury
From his earliest beginnings as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant to his work in international law and finance, Mitchell A. Silk’s story illustrates how perseverance and divine providence led him to become the first Hassidic Jew ever confirmed by the Senate for a position in the US Federal government and a consequential leader in Trump’s Treasury.Mitchell A. Silk served as assistant secretary for International Markets at the US Department of the Treasury, and was the first Hassidic Jew to ever serve in a presidentially-nominated and Senate-confirmed role. His inspirational story is about the providence, perseverance, and personal touch it takes to bring about positive change in the world.
During his thirty-year legal career, Mitchell developed deep expertise in banking, finance, energy, and infrastructure. He advised on many large cross-border capital-intensive landmark energy and infrastructure projects all over the world. As assistant secretary in the Treasury, Mitchell played a senior role in the trade negotiations with China, designed and implemented both the landmark América Crecé initiative and the Trump 45 Administration signature program in the Western Hemisphere that spurred infrastructure growth through private capital solutions in Latin America and beyond, and spearheaded the $94 billion program that saved the airline industry during COVID.
While personal touch and faith in positive outcomes are not often considered de rigueur when it comes to assembling a top-shelf toolkit for international economic policy and diplomacy, they were an essential part of Mitchell’s experience. You will see that good intentions, kindness, and understanding—not to mention a delicious meal shared between friends and enemies—have a unique ability to bridge cultural differences and achieve peace and prosperity.
THIS SESSION IS FREE FOR NETWORK 20/20’s MEMBERS AND DONORS
NOT YET A NETWORK 20/20 MEMBER?
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Image Credit: Image by TungArt7 from Pixabay
