Meet Timothy Trainer, intellectual property attorney, international trade expert, author with spectacular insights into trade with China — and more!

Writing books is a passion for attorney Timothy Trainer, who for more than three decades focused on intellectual property issues in his day job. He has worked in government agencies and in the private sector and his assignments have taken him to 60 countries around the world.

Tim found time to pen a few non-fiction tomes, including his first book, Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights; the 15th edition was published in 2022. Thomson Reuters’ Aspatore Books published Tim’s next title in 2015, Potato Chips to Computer Chips: The War on Fake Stuff.

Fiction was a genre he always wanted to try. In 2019, Pendulum Over the Pacific, was released by Joshua Tree Publishing. “This political intrigue story is set in Tokyo and Washington, D.C., and centers on trade tensions between the U.S. and Japan in the late 1980s,” Tim explains, noting that his latest two novels — The China Connection and The China Factor — are about geoeconomics. “The economic and trade tensions between countries provide fertile areas for stories.”

The big news for 2025:

May 2025: The sequel, The China Factor, ranked #63 on the Amazon Asian Literature list.
September 2025: The Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) announced on September 27, 2025, that Timothy Trainer’s third novel, The China Factor, received the Bronze Award in MWSA’s Mystery, Thriller, Crime fiction category: mwsadispatches.com/2025-season. Read more here.

In 2023, his first series hit bookstores: The China Connection.

Here’s the story: It’s a year after Hong Kong reverted to China. Aaron and Kellie’s dual purpose in Hong Kong, their trip for business and pleasure, descends into chaos when Kellie fails to deliver the blueprint Chinese entrepreneurs seek in hopes of greater riches in the U.S. market. After a day-long meeting, she awakens across the border in southern China the next morning without her travel documents. Aaron, while waiting for Kellie’s return, is attacked in his hotel room.

He panics. Helpless, Aaron enlists the aid of Roger, a retired Customs attaché in Hong Kong. Roger questions the nature of the contents of millions of containers leaving Hong Kong and wonders how he can profit from it. Aaron and Roger cobble together a group of people to rescue Kellie from across the border. This small group of government and non-government people engage in questionable tactics to find Kellie. Can the group come together to save Kellie or will their personal ambitions prevail?

About The China Factor: In this novel, Tim takes us back to the spring of 2005. The FBI foils a government employee’s attempt to provide confidential information to the Chinese. As the FBI struggles to understand why the information is valuable, its investigation entangles Capitol Hill staffer Kellie Liang and jeopardizes her nomination to a State Department position.

Under scrutiny, Kellie thrusts herself into the FBI investigation. Seeking a voice of reason, Kellie reaches out to Aaron Foster only to learn that he is vacationing in Vietnam with his uncle, a war veteran. Surprisingly, Aaron believes he has found a Chinese corporate connection to information theft. From two sides of the world, Kellie and Aaron work to thwart China’s efforts and save Kellie’s nomination.

Learn more about this book and Tim’s writing process when he’s interviewed by author Jeffrey James Higgins’ for his new Inkandescent podcast and video show: Elaine’s Literary Salon.

Learn about Tim’s work and books: timothytrainer.com

Read this week’s blog entry from Tim: Women — The Other Half (Maybe More)

Oct. 6, 2025:

In the days and weeks following the murder of Charlie Kirk, those active on social media and the news reporting industry have provided massive amounts of information and opinion.

Much of what has been said and written is simply noise, easy to overlook. One issue that raised my curiosity and prompted a little “research” was the issue of women in the workplace as opposed to being stay-at-home wives/moms. This one is particularly difficult to let go of, along with many other issues that have been raised.

The discussion or debate about women is an interesting topic. Historically, women were sidelined, kept behind a wall and prevented from doing many things, including things as basic as pursuing an education, entering various occupations, and voting. As a result, it’s ear-piercing to hear anyone talk about the role of women and expressing a desire to return to the past. Click here to continue reading.