Mitchell (Moyshe) Allen Silk is an American lawyer, author, and former government official. He served as

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets is a senior official in the United States Department of the Treasury who heads a portfolio of the department's offices on international financial services issues, trade and investm ...

under President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

. He is an expert in Chinese law and finance. He previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary from October 2017 to July 2019. Silk is the first and only

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

Jew to hold a senior U.S. administration position.

Education

Silk has a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from the

University of Maryland School of Law The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland ...

, Certificate in Advanced Studies in Law from

Beijing University Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education. Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...

, and a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. He also received education at

National Taiwan Normal University National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU; ), or ''Shīdà'' is an institution of higher education and normal school operating out of three campuses in Taipei, Taiwan. NTNU is the leading research institute in such disciplines as Education and Lin ...

and

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

Legal career

Silk began his professional career as an associate at

Hughes Hubbard & Reed Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP ( a.k.a. "Hughes Hubbard" or "HHR") is a multinational law firm headquartered in New York City with offices in the United States, France, and Japan. The firm's history dates back to the late 19th century, when it co ...

from 1987 to 1990, as an associate at Graham & James from 1990 to 1992, as a senior associate at

Chadbourne & Parke Chadbourne & Parke LLP, founded in 1902 by Thomas L. Chadbourne, was a 400 lawyer firm, which operated from 12 offices, in ten countries. Chadbourne was probably best known for its global practice in project finance and energy, international ...

from 1992 to 1996, as a consultant and eventually a partner and Head of China Practice at

Allen & Overy Allen & Overy LLP (informally A&O) is an international law firm. The firm has 580 partners and over 5,600 people worldwide. In 2022 A&O reported an increase in revenue to GBP1.96 billion and is the second largest law firm headquartered in th ...

from 1998 to October 2017. He spent a decade in their Hong Kong office.

Public Service

In October 2017, Silk was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary, International Affairs at the

U.S. Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and t ...

. He was the head of the Office of Investment, Energy and Infrastructure. In July 2019, he became the acting Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets. On September 19, 2019,

President Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

formally nominated Silk to be Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets. A hearing on his nomination before the

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, d ...

was held on November 20, 2019. On April 21, 2020, the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

confirmed his nomination by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...

. Silk became the first Hasidic Jew to be confirmed to a senior U.S. administration position.

Published work

Books

Silk has published a book on Chinese environmental protection law titled: ''China's marine environmental protection law: The dragon creeping in murky waters'', and several other books, ''Taiwan Trade and Investment Law'', ''Environmental Law and Policy in the People's Republic of China''.

Articles

''Are Chinese Companies Taking Over the World?'', ''Taiwan trade and investment law'', ''Understanding China's State Secrets Laws'', ''Post-Mao China and Environmental Protection: The Effects of Legal and Politico-Economic Reform'', ''New Executive Order Seeks to Jump Start the Effort to Rebuild America's Infrastructure'', ''G-d Bless the good people Atlanta Georgia'', ''Natural gas-fired electric power plants: A key element for future U.S. energy policy'', ''A U.S. Treasury Official's Moving Encounter With Atlanta Yeshivah Students''.

Volunteer work

Since 2005 Silk has been doing volunteer work as the Chairman of "Agudath Israel of America Pro Bono Legal Services LLC" at the

Agudath Israel of America Agudath Israel of America ( he, אגודת ישראל באמריקה) (also called Agudah) is an American organization that represents Haredi Orthodox Jews. It is loosely affiliated with the international World Agudath Israel. Agudah seeks to ...

Personal life

Together with his wife Yocheved, Silk has been a resident of

Borough Park, Brooklyn Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, ...

. He was sworn in as Deputy Assistant Secretary with an ancient

Tikkun kor'im A tikkun or tiqqun ( he, תיקון) is a book used by Jews to prepare for reading or writing a Torah scroll. There are two types of tikkun, a ''tikkun kor'im'' and a ''tikkun soferim''. Tikkun kor'im A ''tikkun kor'im'' or ''tiqqun qor'im'' (r ...

that had belonged to Rebbe

Mordechai of Nadvorna Mordechai Leifer (or Läufer) (1824–1894) was a rabbi in Nadvirna, Ukraine. Biography Leifer was the son of Rabbi Yesochor Bertche Leifer (d. 1848), author of ''Sisrei Torah'', and a great-great-grandson of Rabbi Meir "The Great" of Premishlan ...

who was from Silk's grandfather's ancestral town. He is an expert in Chinese law and finance, speaks five languages

Cantonese Chinese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

, English,

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

, Hebrew, and

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

References

External links

U.S. Department of the Treasury biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silk, Mitchell 1961 births 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni University of Baltimore School of Law alumni Peking University alumni National Taiwan Normal University alumni Middlebury College alumni American Orthodox Jews People from Borough Park, Brooklyn United States Assistant Secretaries of the Treasury Trump administration personnel Living people Lawyers from New York City