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Meet Timothy Trainer, intellectual property attorney, international trade expert, author with spectacular insights into trade with China — and more!
Our topic for Ep4: Understanding China through a Professor’s Eyes. Today, Tim talks with Mark Cohen about the advice he would offer to someone studying Chinese today, the challenges facing US diplomats in China regarding intellectual property, and what he sees as the trajectory for US-China relations in trade. Don't miss it!
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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.
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?
The sequel, The China Factor, ranked #63 on the Amazon Asian Literature list.
And, on July 25, the Military Writers Society of America (MWSA) announced its 2025 list of books worthy of this year’s awards that will be announced in September — including The China Factor in the Mystery, Thriller, Crime category. Click here for details and learn more about the awards: 2025 Season — Military Writers Society of America.
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: Department of War or Defense: Beyond the Name
Sept. 10, 2025:
Whether the name is changed officially or not, we will now hear the administration refer to the Department of War for the remainder of this term. The website www.defense.gov now converts to www.war.gov. Interestingly, Kentucky’s Senator Rand Paul has stated that he opposes a formal change and would work to oppose such a change. rawstory.com.
The United States has had an all-volunteer military since 1973. We’ve heard or read repeatedly that the Secretary of Defense (War) wants a more warrior ethos projected by our serving military members. As this administration seeks to generate an image of U.S. forces as more… war-capable, it seems fitting to ask: who are these warriors? Ironically, within days of announcing the change, referring to the Department of War, USA Today published an article on September 6th on the challenges of recruitment.
For those who are interested in knowing something about the volunteer force, it might be surprising or frightening or confusing to read the headline: “Once these recruits couldn’t make the cut. Now they make up a quarter of Army troops,” usatoday.com. Finding young men and women who meet current enlistment standards isn’t always easy. There are both minimum academic and physical requirements to join the army.
