Location: DACOR Bacon House, 1801 F Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
Event Description
Join us for our next Salon which will focus mainly on U.S. economic diplomacy and policy. To begin with more broadly, however: What is this or any diplomacy for? And what is the role of statecraft (read: the State Department) in the conduct of diplomacy?
Transactional negotiation is the name often given the Trump regime’s unprecedented way of carrying out tariff and trade negotiations. These are seen as deal-making, a form of trading calculable gains and losses. Is this model, as such, applicable to trade relations among states? Does it cover all pertinent aspects of trade relations among states, alliances, and multilateral groupings? Is the actual practice of Trump’s tariff negotiations successful by its own standards and other relevant measures?
Can transactional diplomacy, deal-making, be applied across the range of US relations with foreign states and alliances? Does it advance broad US interests and foundational values? shared goals of peace, prosperity, and freedom? How does transaction diplomacy align with US strategic objectives?
The exclusive application of transactional diplomacy to peacemaking raises serious and complex questions. According the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian War shows that ending wars requires an adept mix of coercion, willingness to engage adversaries … and managed expectations.”
The Salon offers all participants a chance for “thinking aloud together.” We ask that members and their guests to this dinner discussion identify trade and other agreements they find successful diplomatic accomplishments. Also we ask that they share with the group aspects of foreign relations other than negotiation and deal-making (e.g., soft diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and public diplomacy) that advance U.S. values and interests.
Our special presenter for this Salon Dinner Discussion is Barbara Bowie-Whitman. Dr. Barbara Bowie-Whitman is an economist and a retired Foreign Service Officer. She was educated at the College of William and Mary and Southern Methodist University and earned her doctorate in economics from the George Washington University.
Dr Bowie-Whitman was a Fulbright Scholar to Guatemala following the completion of her first master’s degree. She served in US Embassies in Mexico, Bogota and London, and was Economic Counselor to the US Mission to the Organization of American States. Her last position in government was as Trade Policy Coordinator for the Western Hemisphere in the US Department of State, where she served as the senior State Department negotiator on free trade agreements with 9 countries.
Barbara has been active in politics and community service and leadership for over six decades, beginning as an eleven year old who wrote a campaign song for Dwight Eisenhower. She was Miss National Young Republican in 1971. She is the widow of Lt.Col. John Whitman, an Army Airborne Ranger and military historian.
Barbara resides in Alexandria, Virginia, and represented Virginia as a delegate to the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
