The Alexander Hamilton Society hosted a panel with John Mueller, Peter Mansoor and Max Boot on March 6, 2018. Credit: Zach Varda | Campus Editor

The Alexander Hamilton Society will bring two distinguished experts to campus Thursday to discuss United States and China’s trade deals and relations.

The event, titled “Rising China: Trade and America’s Pacific Posture,” will welcome Bin Yu, an expert in political science and East Asian studies at Wittenberg University, and Phil Levy, an expert in economics and senior fellow for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

“We’re bringing in really strong and knowledgeable experts,” Michael Hurley, president of AHS and a fourth-year in world politics said. “We have a reputation for bringing knowledgeable experts who are going to bring different perspectives and opinions to make [the discussion] more lively.”

Hurley said there tend to be a lot of misconceptions surrounding international trade and bringing in experts will help to clear that up.

The event will begin with discussion about the U.S. and China trade dispute, but will eventually progress into broader topics about the relationship between the two nations, Hurley said.

Yu will focus on the history of and current relationship between the U.S. and China.

“There’s a gap between how the two societies view each other and how we explain this,” Yu said. “America tends to be very critical of China and not just Trump. If you look at the average pollings, a minority of Americans view China with a positive look.”

Levy on the other hand, will provide the economic perspective of the U.S. relationship with China.

“We are embarking on a trade war right now. We are in a time of conflict,” Levy said. “There are some very serious and challenging questions out there and [students] will start thinking about them and coming up with answers.”

The two experts will share their knowledge in their respective fields and eventually come together to provide an intersectional perspective.

“The way we organize things academically, you have departments where everyone is separated into their specialties. The U.S. relationship with China clearly cuts across specialties,” Levy said. “It ought to be dealt with with an eye to history, politics, economics, culture and the like. That’s where it can be useful to have broader dialogue as opposed to a narrow academic take.”

The event begins at 6 p.m. in 100 Mendenhall Laboratory and is open to all students.
Hurley said he hopes students of all backgrounds will attend the event and even seek to become members.

“It’s an organization that’s trying to foster leadership connected to leaders in government,” Hurley said.