Trade Talks

In a trade podcast mashup, Bill Reinsch and Scott Miller (The Trade Guys) join Trade Talks to interview Soumaya and Chad about the Keynes & Bown new book, How to Win a Trade War (32:07).

Arvind Subramanian (PIIE) explains how poorer countries are being squeezed by China's failure to grow out of many industries important to their economic development (27:44).

Former CHIPS program chief economist Dan Kim (TechInsights) joins for a wide-ranging conversation about artificial intelligence and US semiconductors policy – including the CHIPS Act subsidies, tariffs, and export controls – as well as its impact on US-China technology competition (56:47).

Sam Cooper, the owner of Klear Vu, a company that makes seat cushions in Massachusetts and imports fabric from China, joins for a candid explanation about the impact of the US tariffs in 2025 on the company's supply chain, pricing, and other decisions (34:19).

Former US ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Maria Pagán joins for a wide-ranging conversation about US government concerns with the WTO, the Trump administration's actions so far, and the failures of the recent ministerial conference in Cameroon (33:00).

Thomas J. Bollyky (Council on Foreign Relations) joins to explain the problems facing the US pharmaceutical market, the Trump administration's new tariffs and pricing deal with the United Kingdom, and the impact on American drug prices as well as supply chain security (30:10).

Aime Williams (Financial Times) joins Chad Bown to help explain what has happened since President Trump's sweeping April 2, 2025 tariff announcement. They discuss the surprises in the US import and export data from 2025, trading partner retaliation, the deals, and what comes next after the Supreme Court's February 2026 decision  (22:01).

Tariffs from the new President call for an emergency relaunch of the longstanding trade podcast. Aime Williams (Financial Times) joins to explain what happened with Canada, Mexico, and China (29:50). Read more…

Goodbye for now, as old friend Soumaya Keynes joins Chad Bown to discuss why and what comes next.

The USMCA was supposed to prevent workers from being mistreated at Mexican factories. How is it working so far?

When customs officials in Madagascar cheated their country out of tax revenues, economists caught them. But the fight is not over yet.

What we know about the US lobbying industry and how it influences trade and other types of economic policy.

How the European Union's controversial "posting" policy impacted the movement of workers as well as local communities across the continent.

Companies can avoid taxes by moving profits from IP royalties offshore. What would happen if that changed?

Canadian workers faced new competition after the sudden free trade agreement with the US in 1989. Why were they able to adjust so successfully?

A new way to measure China's subsidies for shipbuilding reveals how much they transformed the industry for the country and world.

Following the Rana Plaza factory collapse, foreign companies promised to enforce Bangladesh's new labor law. What happened next?

As trade with farm exporting countries expands, governments must also consider how to prevent deforestation.

How Brazil's trade liberalization of the 1990s led to unexpected and lasting impacts on workers and a temporary rise in violence.

What consumers can expect from auto companies investing in supply chain resilience as weather disasters loom.

How South Korea's Heavy and Chemical Industry Drive policy of 1973-79 worked and may have contributed to its economic rise.

What happened to workers and others in Costa Rica when global companies imposed new responsible sourcing codes of conduct on their suppliers.

How a 2001 income tax break for Romanian software programmers helped transform the country's information technology sector.

Higher US lead standards in 2009 resulted in more production and pollution from Mexican plants. Nearby infants and kids suffered.

New quartz technology and competition from Japan devastated the dominant Swiss watch industry of the 1970s. What happened next?

EVs headlined the transatlantic dispute over the Inflation Reduction Act. That feud may be over, but other conflicts remain.

In 2012, the EPA started regulating maritime emissions of air pollutants. The shipping industry's response offers lessons for other countries.

The "Made in China 2025" subsidies both provoked a trade war and inspired similar moves by the US and other economies. But have they worked?

How do we reconcile "record-level" US-China imports and exports when tariffs remain on more than half of trade between the two economies?

How understanding the WTO's past can help foster its revival – including for policy challenges like climate and China's non-market economy.

For decades, Taiwan has limited how and how much its tech firms like TSMC could invest in mainland China. Are there lessons for the United States?

US sanctions on European allies repeatedly failed to stop Russian gas pipelines, harmed transatlantic ties, and undermined US policy.

New research examines how NGOs, consumers, and major retailers responded to the outrage following the 2013 tragedy in Bangladesh.

The leakage of submarine technology to the Soviet Union in the 1980s has lessons for the limits to and coordination of allies' export controls today.

The WTO ruled against Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, dragging the organization into thorny national security issues.

New super apps and other internet-enabled technologies have transformed China's financial sector, with global implications, says Martin Chorzempa.

New research reveals how Britain's economy benefited from the brutal transatlantic slave trade and its slave holdings.

A flood of imports from China had an unexpected impact on the Peruvian clothing industry while discouraging Peru's women workers.

New research examining India's pandemic lockdowns sheds light on which supply chains stuck together, which broke apart, and why.

The history behind the sudden US ban on certain exports to China, and how the policy affects the global semiconductor supply chain.

In the 1950s, Taiwan was the first poor economy to experiment with trade reform. How its success changed the course of history for others.

Why it matters that Chinese public opinion toward trade and technology may have changed in response to US policy.

America's new EV subsidies have some carmakers upset. Others are head scratching. Can supply chains diversify away from China?

America's last attempt at trade talks with countries in the region ended badly. How Biden's IPEF approach is different.

The Inflation Reduction Act omits the key global minimum corporate tax agreed to by over 135 countries. Will cooperation still happen?

For decades, United Fruit Company exploited banana workers across its Latin American plantations, except in Costa Rica. Why?

From fashion to forks to fishing reels, how US trade negotiations starting in the 1930s resulted in regressive import duties today.

The Advisory Centre on WTO Law made trade enforcement possible for poor countries. The Appellate Body crisis put that under threat.

Despite the Medicines Patent Pool, COVID-19 treatments remain scarce globally. Prashant Yadav explains what more is needed.

Joe Glauber explains the humanitarian crisis that looms if war cuts wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia. Soumaya Keynes says goodbye.