International business expert available to discuss U.S., Japanese trade agreement

LAWRENCE — As the U.S. and Japan near finalizing negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a University of Kansas international business professor is available to discuss the 12-nation trade agreement.

Tailan Chi, a Carl A. Scupin Faculty Fellow and Academy of International Business Fellow, can speak to concerns about the TPP negotiation, currency manipulation and U.S.-China economic relations.

Currency manipulation has been highlighted in the debate about the granting of the fast-track authority to the Obama administration for the negotiation. Labor unions and some members of Congress want to prevent countries from intentionally weakening their currency through foreign exchange market interventions or monetary policies, making their products more competitive abroad. Chi said such language could be worrisome to some of the participating countries since currency manipulation can be hard to define, diminishing the chance for the TPP negotiation to conclude successfully.

“If this is included, countries could be penalized for monetary policies that have the unintended consequence of influencing the foreign exchange rate,” he said. 

Chi also can comment on the trade pact’s implications for China and economic relations between the U.S. and China.

Chi is a consulting editor for the Journal of International Business Studies and an editorial board member for Strategic Management Journal, Journal of World Business and International Journal of Strategic Change Management.