Panel participants from left are King Banaian, economist and dean of the School of Public Affairs; Robert Pengelly, consul general for Canada; Gerardo Guerrero, consul general for Mexico; and Liu Jun, acting consul general for China. The Potter Global Engagement Forum included a keynote address and two panel discussions.
“Renegotiating the NAFTA has done little or nothing to help U.S. firms or workers, besides a few dairy farmers. It has antagonized our two neighbors, Canada and Mexico, who are two of our three most important trading partners,” said keynote speaker Tim Kehoe at the Potter Global Engagement Forum Nov. 15 in Atwood Memorial Center.
A new North American trade pact, called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, awaits signatures, ratification and implementation.
A Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Economics at the University of Minnesota, Kehoe presented with candor his views on global economics. With years of wisdom, he spoke openly and freely and made that clear when he said, “I am not diplomatic.”
Kehoe covered several other topics: Poverty and income inequality, the effect of trade on jobs, the correlation between manufacturing jobs and increased output, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a proposed trade pact which the U.S. abandoned.
Kehoe also advises the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He holds a doctorate in economics from Yale University.
The late Earl Potter III’s passion for international education is celebrated annually at the Potter Global Engagement Forum.
“Trade and Tariffs: A Global and Regional View” was this year’s topic. The inaugural forum in 2016 focused on education, trade and diplomacy.
Among the attendees were Christine Potter and Margaret Potter, the wife and daughter of the late President Earl H. Potter III, who died in a 2016 car accident.
The forum also included two panel discussions.
