Former Washington state governor Gary Locke will discuss “The Impact of Trade Disputes on U.S. and China Relations” at the Rotary Club of Mercer Island’s meeting on June 3 at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center, 8236 SE 24th St.

The main meeting begins at 12:30 p.m.; socializing is from noon to 12:30 p.m. Guests are always welcome and there is no fee to attend. A catered lunch from Pogacha is available for $25, or attendees can bring their own meal.

Locke served as Washington’s 21st governor from 1997-2005 and was the first Chinese American to be elected governor in United States history. Locke expanded the sale of products and services by leading 10 productive trade missions to Mexico, Europe and Asia. He successfully strengthened economic ties between China and Washington state, more than doubling the state’s exports to China to more than $5 billion per year.

Serving as the 36th commerce secretary from 2009-2011, he aggressively led the effort to implement President Obama’s National Export Initiative to double American exports in five years; assumed a troubled 2010 Census process but which under his active supervision ended on time and substantially under budget, saving taxpayers $2 billion; and achieved the most significant reduction in patent application processing in the agency’s history: from 40 months down to one year.

With this background, he served as America’s 10th Ambassador to China from 2011-2014, opened markets for made-in-USA goods and services; reduced wait times for visa interviews of Chinese applicants from 100 days to three days; and through the embassy’s air quality monitoring program, exposed the severity of the air pollution in China, causing the Chinese people to demand action by the government and the government in turn beginning to address the issue.

For more information on the Rotary Club of Mercer Island, visit http://mirotary.org