Ben Harburg: A View of the U.S.-China Trade War from Beijing

Recent challenges in the U.S.-China economic relationship have been well-documented in the United States and debated from every point of view. But how is the trade war viewed by the U.S. business community in China? As an American working in Beijing, Ben Harburg, managing partner of MSA Capital, gives his interpretation of the short- and long-term effects of this tension in the relationship. Ben Harburg is a Managing Partner of MSA Capital, a venture capital firm which has invested $1b over the last 4 years into Chinese technology companies. In 2018, the firm had one of the most successful years of any VC fund globally, with four IPOs and one major sale. MSA’s most recent venture fund already boasts 10 companies individually valued at over $1b. Prior to MSA, he worked for The Boston Consulting Group and founded several companies. He was a Fulbright Scholar at Freie University Berlin and Neubauer Scholar at Tufts University, where he also sits on the Board of Advisors of the School of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Carnegie Endowment’s Tsinghua Center.