Gilbert B. Kaplan was formerly Deputy Assistant and Acting Assistant Secretary of the U. S. Department of Commerce. He is a partner in the international trade firm of King & Spalding in Washington, D. C. He filed the first successful anti-subsidy case by any U. S. industry against China, which led to large anti-subsidy duties on imports of Chinese pipe into the United States in 2008. On behalf of the United States government, he was one of the negotiators of the U. S./Japan Agreement on Trade in Semiconductors and the U. S. Agreement on lumber trade with Canada.

He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and the author of many articles about international trade and problems in the U. S. manufacturing sector, including 5 Myths about the Death of the American Factory, A New Focus for Trade Talks, and The First Affirmative Countervailing Duty Case Against China. He has testified about international trade issues numerous times before the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee.

Blog Entries by Gilbert B. Kaplan

President Obama Brings 10,000 Manufacturing Jobs Back from China (Headlines We'd Like to See)

Posted November 6, 2009 | 02:16 PM (EST)


I am glad that a company called Teletech Governmental Solutions in Englewood, Colorado used our stimulus funds to hire 635 call center employees to provide assistance to people transitioning to digital TV's. But I would be happier if a single one of those TV's were being made in the United...

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There Will Be No Trade War

5 Comments | Posted October 4, 2009 | 11:24 AM (EST)


If you were going to start a trade war against the United States, it is unlikely that your first salvo would be on chicken parts, or as the Chinese rather charmingly first announced, on dorkings. A dorking is a five toed chicken that flourishes in Surrey, England. The normal chicken...

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A Manufacturing Manifesto for Mr. Bloom

Posted September 9, 2009 | 07:01 PM (EST)


Labor Day, earlier this week, could have been called Un-Labor Day or We-Need-More-Labor Day, with the unemployment rate reaching a 26-year high of 9.7%, and, according to the Washington Post, reaching the highest level ever measured if you include people who have given up looking for work -- 16.8%....

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President Hu, Tear Down This Firewall

10 Comments | Posted August 14, 2009 | 03:50 PM (EST)


There are moments when a President can make a difference, not solely by the strength of his policies or by the use of military power. But by an emotional and symbolic gesture that sends a message throughout the entire world community. Twenty-one years ago the United States faced down...

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Create a Secretary of Manufacturing

35 Comments | Posted July 29, 2009 | 03:16 PM (EST)


Three events in the last few months highlight why the United States needs a Secretary of Manufacturing, who will sit at the Cabinet Table with as much sway and importance as the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Defense, or any other Cabinet Officer.

The first was the cancellation of...

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