Trade Talks

Soumaya Keynes (Financial Times) joins to cohost an emergency episode explaining President Trump’s sweeping April 2 tariff announcement. Bown and Keynes turn to Douglas A. Irwin on history, Maurice Obstfeld on the US dollar, and Kathleen Claussen on law to clarify what we know about the tariff actions so far (29:14).

Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman (City University of New York) joins for a wide-ranging conversation on historical lessons as well as some new thinking about international trade, the “agglomeration economies” driving geographically concentrated production, industrial policy, as well as the policy environment under President Trump (42:12).

A potential US-Ukraine critical minerals agreement is only the latest effort to address security concerns over US sourcing of critical minerals from China. America’s previous top diplomat for critical minerals, Geoff Pyatt (former Assistant Secretary of State, former US ambassador to Ukraine) joins to explain (33.47).

Europe had a rocky ride during President Trump's first term, but it was largely spared from significant tariffs. The world is different this time around. Former European Commission trade official Rupert Schlegelmilch joins to explain (34:32).

Shipments of small packages from China have skyrocketed, but the de minimis policy that excludes them from tariffs may end. Chris Casey (Congressional Research Service) joins to explore the history of the US de minimis policy and Amit Khandelwal (Yale University) shares economic research into the question of what happens if the policy ends (37:33).

President Trump first imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum in 2018, but this time it's different. Ana Swanson (New York Times) joins to explain (32:23).

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.

After years of dispute, the EU agreed to stop retaliating and to limit exports if the US lifted Trump’s national security tariffs.