When examining U.S.-China Relations, it helps to be able to compare various dimensions of the two countries, side by side, and also understand something of the more than 2,000-year economic history of China. It also helps to understand how the global system of trade works and how the dominance of trading countries varies throughout history. Finally, it is important to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge of China’s “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” and to understand that, despite the name of the political party in power, China does not consider itself to be a “Communist” social and economic system. With a better understanding of these key elements in the background, it is easier to develop future scenarios for U.S.-China Relations.

Rob Scarlett currently serves as Senior Advisor to Clearwater Biologic, LLC, a bio-remediation business located in Babbitt, Minnesota, and has served as a senior executive in a few smaller manufacturing companies over the years.
In 1999, after co-authoring “Global Business: 308 Tips to Take Your Company Worldwide”, he started Hunter Scarlett Consulting and serves as a director for start-ups in the US and Latin America. Rob is fluent in English, German, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese.
He graduated from Carleton College in 1966 and spent much of the past 50 years working and living in various countries in Latin America. While working in Latin America, he observed the emergence of China as the primary trading partner for most of the countries in the region – and this led him to follow China’s emergence more closely.
In the community, he is a 45-year volunteer and former Chair of Global Minnesota and currently serves as Founding Director for the Venn Foundation, as Vice President of the Board of the Brazil-Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and as a director of the 100% employee-owned AVEKA Group, Inc., in Woodbury, Minnesota.