Charles Freeman,

Senior Vice President for Asia,

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Charles Freeman, senior vice president for Asia at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has been helping companies navigate complex markets in the Asia-Pacific. Freeman was assistant U.S. trade representative for China affairs, serving as principal U.S. trade negotiator with China. He also was legislative counsel in the U.S. Senate, where he concentrated on East Asian economic and trade issues. He also served as PepsiCo's vice president for global public policy and government affairs for Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. In addition, Freeman was chair of China studies at Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Earlier, he was based in Hong Kong with The Asia Foundation and the International Herald Tribune and worked as a securities lawyer and venture capitalist investing in emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and China. He is on the board of directors of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and Harding Loevner Funds, an internationally focused mutual fund group. He is also a senior adviser to CSIS. Freeman earned his doctor of law degree from Boston University's School of Law and his bachelor's degree in Asian studies and economics from Tufts University.He did postgraduate work at Fudan University in Shanghai and studied Mandarin Chinese at the Taipei Language Institute.

Founded in 1912 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business organization representing companies of all sizes across every sector of the economy. The main responsibility of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is to fight for the interests of commercial organizations and enterprises from Congress, the White House, the legislature, the courts and other government agencies in other countries, and it has great influence on the formulation of economic and trade policies of the U.S. government.