Nicholas Burns
Nicholas Burns’ 2024 Harvard Address: Embracing JFK’s Lessons on Unity
Nicholas Burns
WSB Exclusive Speaker
U.S. Ambassador to China (2021-2025)
With a career culminating as U.S. Ambassador to China, Ambassador Nicholas Burns is recognized as the leading expert on U.S.-China relations. Having served six Presidents and nine Secretaries of State, Burns draws on insights into global politics, economics, and technology honed through key assignments at NATO and in Greece while delivering bipartisan analysis that equips corporate audiences with clarity and strategic foresight.
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Nicholas Burns is one of the world’s foremost authorities on U.S.-China relations. Fresh from his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to China (2021–2025), he brings unparalleled insight into the evolving geopolitical landscape and the critical nexus between American and Chinese interests. Drawing on decades of high-level diplomatic experience, from guiding NATO expansion to shaping pivotal security and economic initiatives with India, Israel, and other countries, Burns delivers a nonpartisan, authoritative perspective on the forces transforming global business today. Known for his skill in navigating complex negotiations with world powers, he provides audiences with the strategic foresight needed to thrive amid fierce competition for military, economic, and technological dominance.
Whether he’s dissecting China’s intricate market dynamics or charting the path forward for cross-border partnerships, Ambassador Burns translates his extraordinary diplomatic background into actionable strategies for modern corporations. He equips executives with forward-looking approaches to navigate shifting global alliances, anticipate policy changes, and seize emerging opportunities. Celebrated for his ability to build consensus among diverse stakeholders, Burns helps organizations remain agile and competitive in an increasingly interconnected marketplace. By drawing on his unrivaled expertise in China and deep knowledge of global affairs, he ensures leaders walk away with the clarity, confidence, and innovative frameworks they need to succeed – no matter how volatile the international environment becomes.
Featured Videos
Nicholas Burns
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Nicholas Burns
Nicholas Burns’ 2024 Harvard Address: Embracing JFK’s Lessons on Unity
Nicholas Burns’ Speech Topics
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The U.S.-China Rivalry for Global Power
China is and will remain the primary competitor of the United States for global military, economic, and technology power well into the next decade. Our most recent U.S. Ambassador to China (2021-2025), Nicholas Burns, offers a unique, non-partisan view of the stakes involved for Americans and people worldwide. Specifically, Burns focusses on the opportunities and challenges for business leaders in investing, manufacturing, and trading with China. He offers an authoritative analysis of the competition between the two countries in artificial intelligence, biotechnology, trade, military power in the Indo-Pacific and other areas. Burns provides a clear, compelling, and in-depth perspective, essential for understanding the power struggle ahead between these global titans.
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National Security Challenges for America and the World in 2025
Ambassador Nicholas Burns provides a clear and authoritative perspective into the unprecedented global challenges ahead in 2025. One of America’s most senior and experienced diplomats, Burns draws on his deep knowledge of China (where he was U.S. Ambassador until early 2025) , India, Europe, the Middle East, and beyond to lay out future trends that will affect governments, businesses and individuals in 2025 and beyond. Specifically, he will delineate the crises that could affect global markets and stability—the Wars in Ukraine and Middle East, the dangerous and complicated U.S.-China rivalry, the battle for technology power in A.I. and biotechnology, developments in climate change and energy, and the consequential economic and trade disputes that will play out in the years ahead. He offers a non-partisan, deeply informed and essential presentation for all whose businesses and future will be affected by global trends in the years ahead.
Featured News
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60 Minutes -
PBS NewsHour Outgoing Ambassador Nicholas Burns analyzes future of U.S.-China relations
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Wall Street Journal Trump’s Canada and Greenland Threats Imperil China Fight, Says Departing Envoy
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NBC Lessons learned from trying to thaw icy relations between rivals U.S. and China
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Foreign Affairs In the Room With Xi Jinping: A Conversation With Nicholas Burns
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