On Thursday, the last day of the doorknock, the delegation met with Elizabeth Vale, Executive Director of the White House Business Council and Senior Advisor to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke at the White House Conference Center.

The White House Business Council is a newly formed agency under the Obama Administration tasked with ensuring that contacts with the business community are routed to the appropriate policy makers in the White House. Elizabeth made it clear to all of us that, as the Obama Administration considers the U.S. China commercial relationship a top priority, the input and feedback from the American business community in China is crucial. She urged us to continue speaking with her on matters of importance to AmCham Shanghai members and to stay in touch.

Nor Coquillard led off the discussion with an overview of our key messages on the doorknock and a run-down on who we had met with and the reception we received. Elizabeth and her team, Fred Baldessaro, Senior Advisor at the Office of Business Affairs at the Treasury Department and Dr. Kavita Patel, Policy Director at the White House, were particularly interested in data we provided regarding the trade promotion activities of our strongest competition in China – the EU nations, Japan and Korea. Also of great interest was AmCham Shanghai’s recently released China Greentech Report. We provided copies of the report and Elizabeth promised to forward it to Fred Nelson, the White House Business Council lead on the environment and technology, among others. As the Waxman-Markey climate change bill in the House is in the process of being marked up, Elizabeth asked us to provide feedback and input on the bill and on priorities for developing the greentech market in China.