Josh Cartin is a partner at TD International (TDI), where he is focused on helping clients navigate complex transactional and operational challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. Cartin joined TDI in 2023 after 20 years of US federal government service, occupying senior policy positions in Washington and overseas. He served in the National Security Council’s East Asia Directorate under two different presidential administrations, finishing as deputy senior director for Asia in 2017-2020. Cartin played a key role in drafting the US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific, coordinating the US government’s shift to a competitive China strategy, and working with US allies and partners to improve economic competitiveness and resilience through concerted action on global investment and secure technology supply chains. Mr. Cartin was detailed to the Pentagon in 2021-2022, where he served as foreign policy advisor to the joint staff director for strategy, plans, and policy. Cartin served as chief of the Economic Section at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in 2013-2016, strengthening the US-Taiwan economic and technology partnership through launching innovative programs such as the Global Cooperation & Training Framework and Digital Economy Forum, and improving the market environment for US exporters and investors through the US-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Cartin speaks Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Indonesian with proficiency. He is an adjunct professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and a member of the US Export-Import Bank’s Advisory Subcommittee on Strategic Competition with the People’s Republic of China. Cartin earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a master of strategic studies at the United States Army War College.
