Byung-il Choi is an expert and scholar in international negotiations and trade with 35 years of practical experience and theoretical knowledge.

Mr. Choi was a trade negotiator for the Korean government at multilateral and bilateral talks, including Korea-U.S. telecom talks (1992), the Uruguay Round (1993), and the WTO basic telecom negotiations, which opened up the monopolistic Korean telecom industry to the competitive world market. He proposed Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII) to bridge the digital divide in APEC and contributed to the inaugural APEC Ministerial Meeting on the Telecommunications and Information Industry, which was held in Seoul in 1995.

Mr. Choi has served as a nexus between academia and policy circle on international trade, diplomacy, and economy. As a founding faculty member of the GSIS at Ewha Womans University (1997), he organized and led the Free Trade Academia at the early stage of KORUS FTA negotiations, where scholars exchanged their ideas on negotiation strategies, issues, follow-ups, and results. During his presidency at the Korea Economic Research Institute (2011-2014), Mr. Choi espoused the ideas of inclusive growth, a sustainable welfare state, entrepreneurship, and a "Big Bang" in the service sector, writing blueprints for a paradigm shift in the Korean economy. In acknowledgement of these contributions, he became the first Korean economist to be elected as an international fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA).

Mr. Choi is also recognized for his research, lecture and training on conflict management and establishment of negotiation strategies. He collaborated with Roger Fisher, a global negotiation expert from Harvard, to introduce training on win-win negotiations in Korea, and provided hands-on negotiation training for leaders in both the public and private sectors.

Mr. Choi is also a recurring contributor and guest speaker to the Korean mainstream media, renowned for his 30+ years of expertise in economy, global affairs, and negotiations. His best-selling books include "The KORUS FTA: Against the All Odds," the go-to book on the subject for journalists, and "US-China Competition: Who Will Rule the World?," praised for its pithy prognostications. His latest book "Trump Again" was published in January 2025.