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Biden Administration International Affairs Personnel Tracker
Wendy Sherman
Deputy Secretary of State
Ambassador Wendy Sherman has served a lengthy career in government with intermittent posts at prominent think tanks. For instance, serves on the boards of the International Crisis Group and the Atlantic Council, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Aspen Strategy Group, and the Massachusetts Women’s Forum.
Her most prominent government position prior to her nomination in the Biden Administration was as Hillary Clinton’s Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the fourth-highest post at the State Department, during the Obama administration. In this role, she served as the lead negotiator for the Iran Nuclear Deal. Prior to this, she was the Clinton administration’s policy coordinator for North Korea, heading U.S. policy towards North Korea until 2001. Amb. Sherman most recently worked at the Harvard Kennedy School as a Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, as well as a Senior Counselor at Albright Stonebridge Group.
On China
As lead negotiator of the Obama era Iran Nuclear Deal, Amb. Wendy Sherman’s foreign affairs expertise focuses on the Middle East. That being said, she has weighed in clear positions on the direction she believes the U.S.-China relationship should go. She has also been vocal on human rights issues and on high profile cases, such as her December 5, 2020 tweet, “Long, long past time for China to free Michael #FreeMichaelKovrig”.
She is also an ardent believer that technology is where the U.S.-China competition will be one of its fiercest, but has not ruled out the need to work with China in other areas where possible. “Where we can, we must work with China. Where we must challenge them, we must confront them when necessary. Our greatest immediate challenge is of course in the arena of technology, where they hold the data set of unparalleled proportion and are moving rapidly into the 5G world and into artificial intelligence. Our government, our private sector, must invest more in research, development and planning for a world that looks very different than the world today.”
As Antony Blinken’s second in command at the Department of State, Amb. Sherman will no doubt play an important role in deciding the trajectory of the U.S.-China relationship in the Biden administration. Her most notable liaison with Beijing thus far was a July 25-26 trip, where Amb. Sherman and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Tianjin and discussed ways to rekindle norms of managed and responsible competition between the U.S. and China – on issues such as human rights, global supply chains, and maritime law – while avoiding open conflict. Commenting on the trip the day of her return, Amb. Sherman remarked:
Open communication – even when we disagree – is critical to diplomacy. We will continue to press the PRC to respect international norms and its international obligations.
Following the appointment of Amb. Qin Gang as the Chinese ambassador to the United States in late July, Amb. Sherman met with him on August 11 to begin building on the Tianjin dialogue.
Notable Speeches, Testimony & Commentary
Media Commentary & Public Perceptions
- Sherman’s China Visit Was a Quiet Disaster
- Reasons for Optimism in Wake of Sherman’s Visit to China
- Biden selects Wendy Sherman for No. 2 State Department post
- Biden Taps Obama Administration Diplomat as New Iran Envoy
- How Biden’s pick of Wendy Sherman elevates his Iran diplomacy
- Former Obama aide to be tapped as Iran envoy, angering hawks
Page Last Updated: August 16, 2021
*None of the personnel in this tracker are associated with the Institute for China-America Studies. All images used on this page are sourced from the official Biden-Harris transition website buildbackbetter.gov or the public domain.*
