Keith Krach was a business veteran but a novice to government when he joined the Trump administration in June 2019 as under secretary of state for economic growth, energy, and the environment. At age 26, he was named a vice president of General Motors, where he helped set up GM’s robotics venture. Later he co-founded Ariba Inc., a pioneer of business-to-business e-commerce, and went on to become chief executive of DocuSign Inc., which digitized document signing. In government, Krach was an advocate for what he calls “tech statecraft,” which in practice meant using sanctions, subsidies, and alliances to try to keep the U.S. ahead of China technologically. He also was the highest-ranking State Department official in years to visit Taiwan – a trip that strengthened U.S. ties to Taiwan and prompted Beijing to send jets to cross the median line between the island and the mainland. After leaving government, he started the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University to try
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