Please join us for a Q&A with Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2017- 2019), and Max Baucus, U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (2014-2017), as they provide their thoughts and experienced perspectives on potential policy priorities and directions following the 2020 presidential, Senate, and Congressional elections.
Sidley partner and former six-term United States Representative Peter Roskam will moderate the discussion with introductory remarks by Michael Borden, partner and leader of Sidley’s Government Strategies practice.
Nikki Haley
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (2017-2019)
Governor of South Carolina (2011-2017)
Nikki Haley served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2019. She also served as a member of the National Security Council and President Donald Trump's Cabinet, where she broke ground as the first Indian-American woman to hold a cabinet-level position.
In the UN Security Council, Ambassador Haley worked to defend Americans' interests and keep our country safe. She spearheaded negotiations resulting in the strongest set of sanctions ever placed on North Korea for its nuclear weapons program. As UN Ambassador, Haley championed human rights. She challenged human rights violators across the globe, standing up to oppressive regimes in Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and Russia. During the U.S. presidency of the UN Security Council, she hosted the first-ever session devoted solely to promoting human rights. Her fight for human rights took her across the globe, from Syrian refugees in Jordan and Turkey, to internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan, and Venezuelan migrants walking miles every day to cross the Colombian border for food and medicine.
Born in Bamberg, South Carolina, to Indian immigrant parents, Ambassador Haley’s political career includes serving as Representative of South Carolina’s District 87, and as the first minority, and first woman, to serve as Governor of South Carolina.
Max Baucus
U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (2014-2017)
Senator from Montana (1978-2014)
On January, 7, 2014 U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Max Sieben Baucus to be Ambassador of the United States of America to the People’s Republic of China. He served as Ambassador from February 21, 2014 until January 19, 2017. Ambassador Baucus formerly served as the senior United States Senator from Montana. He served in the U.S. Senate from 1978 to 2014 and was Montana’s longest serving U.S. Senator as well as the third longest tenure among those serving in the U.S. Senate. While in the Senate, Ambassador Baucus was Chairman and Ranking Member of the powerful Senate Committee on Finance. While Chairman, he was the chief architect of the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA) which was signed by President Barack Obama into law March 23, 2009. The ACA expanded health care coverage and reformed reimbursement. Ambassador Baucus has extensive experience in international trade. As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, he led the passage and enactment of the Free Trade Agreements with 11 countries: Australia, Bahrain, Jordan, Chile, Colombia, Morocco, Oman, Panama, Peru, Singapore and South Korea. He also was deeply involved in orchestrating the congressional approval of permanent normal trade relations with China in 2000 and in facilitating China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization in 2001.
