C. Fred Bergsten (born April 23, 1941) is an American economist, author, think tank entrepreneur, and policy adviser.

From 1977 to 1981 he served at the U.S. Treasury Department as Assistant Secretary for International Affairs during the Carter administration.

[1] He functioned as well as Under Secretary for Monetary Affairs, during 1980–81, representing the United States on the G-5 Finance Ministers' deputies and in preparing G-7 summits.

From 1992 through 1995, he was also chairman of the Eminent Persons Group of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, whose recommendations for achieving "free and open trade and investment in the region" by 2020 were agreed by the leaders of the member economies and are now being implemented through the TransPacific Partnership.

His career is described and analyzed in C. Fred Bergsten and The World Economy, a book of essays on his contributions to a wide range of global economic issues published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics in 2007 and edited by former Senior Fellow Michael Mussa.