Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Katherine Tai
Katherine Chi Tai (Chinese: 戴琪 ; born March 18, 1974) is an American lawyer who served as the 19th United States Trade Representative from March 18, 2021, to January 20, 2025. The daughter of Taiwanese American immigrants, she is the first Asian American to serve in the position. Tai is a member of the Democratic Party and previously served as the chief trade counsel for the United States House Committee on Ways and Means.
Tai was born to a Taiwanese American family on March 18, 1974, in Connecticut. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Sidwell Friends School. Her grandfather, Li Hongji, was a member of the first Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China. Her parents were waishengren from Jiangsu and Henan, born in Mainland China. They relocated to Taiwan in 1949 during the Great Retreat and later immigrated to the United States.
Tai is fluent in Mandarin. In 1996, she graduated from Yale University, where she was a member of Pierson College, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. After college, she taught English at Sun Yat-sen University as a Yale-China Fellow for two years, from 1996 to 1998. Tai went on to study at Harvard Law School, where she earned a Juris Doctor in 2001.
After law school, she worked for several law firms, including Powell Goldstein, Sidley Austin, Baker McKenzie, and Miller & Chevalier, and clerked for U.S. district courts in Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
From 2007 to 2014, Tai served in the trade representative's Office of General Counsel, becoming chief counsel for China trade enforcement from 2011 until her departure. At the Office of General Counsel, she worked on trade cases at the World Trade Organization. In 2014, she became trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee. She was named chief trade counsel in 2017.
During Tai's tenure with the Committee on Ways and Means, she played a significant role in the House's negotiations with the Trump administration regarding the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), advocating for stronger labor provisions. The Associated Press has described her as a "problem-solving pragmatist on trade policy".
Tai was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as trade representative in December 2020. Tai has been described as both an "avowed progressive" and as a "consensus builder [who can] help bridge the Democratic Party's varying views on trade".
Hearings on Tai's nomination were held before the Senate Finance Committee on February 25, 2021. Tai was reported out of the committee by unanimous consent on March 3, 2021. The entire Senate confirmed her on March 17, 2021, in a 98–0 vote; senators Bernie Sanders and Mazie Hirono were absent for the vote.
Hub AI
Katherine Tai AI simulator
(@Katherine Tai_simulator)
Katherine Tai
Katherine Chi Tai (Chinese: 戴琪 ; born March 18, 1974) is an American lawyer who served as the 19th United States Trade Representative from March 18, 2021, to January 20, 2025. The daughter of Taiwanese American immigrants, she is the first Asian American to serve in the position. Tai is a member of the Democratic Party and previously served as the chief trade counsel for the United States House Committee on Ways and Means.
Tai was born to a Taiwanese American family on March 18, 1974, in Connecticut. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and attended Sidwell Friends School. Her grandfather, Li Hongji, was a member of the first Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China. Her parents were waishengren from Jiangsu and Henan, born in Mainland China. They relocated to Taiwan in 1949 during the Great Retreat and later immigrated to the United States.
Tai is fluent in Mandarin. In 1996, she graduated from Yale University, where she was a member of Pierson College, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. After college, she taught English at Sun Yat-sen University as a Yale-China Fellow for two years, from 1996 to 1998. Tai went on to study at Harvard Law School, where she earned a Juris Doctor in 2001.
After law school, she worked for several law firms, including Powell Goldstein, Sidley Austin, Baker McKenzie, and Miller & Chevalier, and clerked for U.S. district courts in Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
From 2007 to 2014, Tai served in the trade representative's Office of General Counsel, becoming chief counsel for China trade enforcement from 2011 until her departure. At the Office of General Counsel, she worked on trade cases at the World Trade Organization. In 2014, she became trade counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee. She was named chief trade counsel in 2017.
During Tai's tenure with the Committee on Ways and Means, she played a significant role in the House's negotiations with the Trump administration regarding the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA), advocating for stronger labor provisions. The Associated Press has described her as a "problem-solving pragmatist on trade policy".
Tai was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as trade representative in December 2020. Tai has been described as both an "avowed progressive" and as a "consensus builder [who can] help bridge the Democratic Party's varying views on trade".
Hearings on Tai's nomination were held before the Senate Finance Committee on February 25, 2021. Tai was reported out of the committee by unanimous consent on March 3, 2021. The entire Senate confirmed her on March 17, 2021, in a 98–0 vote; senators Bernie Sanders and Mazie Hirono were absent for the vote.