Hear Author Ker Gibbs Talk on Trade, Trump and US-China Dynamics

Description

Royal Geographical Society Hong Kong’s upcoming talk unpacks China’s rapid transformation and its evolving commercial relationship with the West through the lens of Ker Gibbs. Having lived and worked in China for over 20 years, he draws on his tenure as the former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai across the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations. He then examines key business and political developments from both Western and Chinese perspectives, and explains why US-China tensions have escalated in ways that threaten global commerce and stability.

In his book, The Fragile Dragon: Trade, Trump, and China’s Vulnerabilities, Gibbs argues that China is neither an unstoppable juggernaut nor a system on the brink of collapse. He instead shows how to think about China pragmatically: navigating the narrow corridor between Beijing’s demands and Washington’s constraints, partnering with rather than competing against local players, and structuring businesses to minimise risk amid geopolitical volatility.

Having arrived in China in 1985, Gibbs spent the next four decades witnessing its economic boom. He later worked with state-owned enterprises at Boston Consulting Group and helped finance future tech giants at HSBC. An American of Chinese ancestry, he reconnects with family left behind after 1949 and weaves their stories — an opium addict, an American codebreaker and a Chinese revolutionary — into a broader account of China’s economic rise and its fragile strengths.

On 17 August, there will be complimentary drinks served from 18:45. The talk will then commence at 19:30.