TUESDAY PROFILE: U.S. Chamber’s main player on Asia is Brilliant

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s main player when it comes to Asia is Myron Brilliant, and he’s about to have a very busy year.  

Brilliant, the Chamber’s senior vice president for international affairs, will be a key figure as the Obama administration works to win congressional approval of a trade agreement with South Korea. 

“We think we can influence that debate,” Brilliant said during a recent interview in his office, which he cut short so that he could rush to a meeting with the president of Panama, another country hoping to see a trade deal with the U.S. approved this year. 

{mosads}Brilliant will be active in lobbying on the Panama trade deal and on another stalled agreement with Colombia, which is much more controversial with Democrats and the administration. 

He will also continue to be an eye for the business lobby on China, especially during President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington later this month. The meeting provides a moment for Washington and Beijing to make progress on several issues critical to U.S. businesses, which are looking for help from White House focused on improving ties with the private sector. 

Approval of the South Korean trade deal would, in Brilliant’s view, go a long way toward helping prepare the U.S. for what’s been dubbed the Asian century. 

It would be the biggest trade pact approved by Congress in decades, and Brilliant and other proponents argue it would help the U.S. balance China in the region while strengthening ties with a key ally. 

“If we go forward, we’ll lock in jobs not only in manufacturing but in services,” argues Brilliant, who said South Korea had to do far more than the U.S. in making last-minute concessions that allowed the Obama administration and the United Autoworkers to support the deal. 

Winning approval of the South Korea deal might not be as hard as some other recent trade battles, but it will not be a slam-dunk, given continued opposition from some Democrats and trade union officials, who say the deal would ship jobs overseas and hurt U.S. workers. 

Another potential complication for approval of the South Korean deal is political maneuvering from Republicans, who hope to use the vote as leverage to push through the more controversial deals with Panama and Colombia. 

The Chamber is supportive of all three agreements, but Brilliant sounds a pragmatic note when asked about the GOP’s saber-rattling. “The first priority is Korea,” he said. But he added that the U.S. should do “the right thing” on all three agreements, and warned that the U.S. is falling behind on trade policy by standing still while Europe and China press forward. 

A coach for youth basketball and baseball when he’s not working on international economics for the Chamber, Brilliant brings coaching metaphors to the subject of foreign competition, saying the U.S. must work hard to keep up in a competitive world. 

He tells his young players that it’s not always about winning — it’s about playing the game right and improving your game to make yourself more competitive. 

“In the same way, the U.S. has to position ourselves to compete in a more competitive environment,” he said. Rather that focusing on how to hold China or other emerging powers back, “we can do something about it. We can get our act together,” he added. 

The debates over South Korea and China will carry Brilliant further down a path that began in 1980, when he made his first trip to Hong Kong. 

Since 1998, Brilliant estimates he’s made 50 trips to China, and he was the only American present at the signing of China’s papers allowing it to enter the World Trade Organization. Brilliant pressed hard for China to enter the WTO, and for Congress to approve China’s entry into the international trading system by granting that country permanent normal trade relations in 2000. 

Those events shaped much of the last decade, which has seen stunning economic growth from China. That expansion has intensified tensions with Congress and with U.S. workers and businesses, which see China as a vital market but worry about growing competition and China’s efforts to force U.S. companies to transfer intellectual property and innovations. 

Polls suggest some pessimism in this country about keeping up with China, but Brilliant, who is not surprised by China’s staggering growth since entering the WTO, is not worried about the U.S. He believes that future generations, including his own three children, will be able to find jobs in a world where emerging markets are bigger players. 

“This is great country,” he said. “We’ve had other challenges and we’ve come through strong.” 

Part of the answer, Brilliant believes, is having a more aggressive policy on trade. He mentions a number of other policies as being critical, some as narrow as the permanent extension of the research and development tax credit, others as broad as reducing the deficit and public debt. 

Turning back to coaching, Brilliant says countries and prospective athletes must know the rules of the game and seek ways to improve. If the United States addresses its problems, the sky will be the limit. 

“I would not write off the U.S.,” he said. “Those that do would make a big mistake.”