It was the first major public speech given by Lighthizer, a long-term critic of China's trade practices against the United States. Lighthizer told a crowd of over a hundred at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that China represents the one challenge facing the administration that is "substantially more difficult than those faced in the past." "The sheer scale of their coordinated efforts to develop their economy, to subsidize, to create 'national champions,' to force technology transfers, and to destroy markets in China and throughout the world, is a threat to the world trading system that is unprecedented," said Lighthizer.