Chuck begins with analysis of the Trump administration's tariff implementation and personnel changes, including Mike Waltz's removal as national security advisor and Marco Rubio's expanding role within the administration. Then, he’s joined by Oren Cass, a leading conservative economic thinker, on America's trade policy and the challenges of reindustrialization. Cass argues that while tariffs and reindustrialization may be sound concepts, the Trump administration's implementation has been completely counter-productive. They discuss how traditional right-of-center thinking on free trade has evolved, questions whether China's integration into global markets has delivered promised benefits, and explores the regional winners and losers of trade agreements like NAFTA.Cass tackles questions about America's trade deficit, consumer willingness to pay more for domestic products, and whether reshoring manufacturing is practical for the American economy. The conversation examines the national security implications of trade agreements, the potential for losing allies to China's influence, and what realistic reindustrialization might look like in today's economy.Finally, Chuck answers listener questions on the executive branch's guardrails, expectations for "Resistance 2.0," potential federal intervention in college sports, and whether media scrutiny of public officials' backgrounds has gone too far.00:00 Introduction02:00 If tariffs actually are a good idea, the way they’ve been implemented hasn’t given it a chance to succeed03:30 The administration is only interested in communicating to their base07:30 What should we take away from Mike Waltz being removed as national security advisor?08:55 Marco Rubio is now holding four jobs in the administration09:45 Rubio has earned Trump’s trust13:15 Is the new model to move staff to new roles rather than fire them?15:15 Abigail Spanberger may have had the best 100 days of any Democrat17:55 Wes Moore announces he won’t run in 202820:35 Oren Cass joins the Chuck ToddCast! 22:35 Tools for achieving re-industrialization 23:35 Tariffs and reindustrialization is a good idea, Trump's rollout has been disastrous 25:35 The U.S. needs credible and sustainable trade policy 27:20 Right of center thinking for 40 years was simply "Free trade is good" 29:05 Has free and open trade been a net positive worldwide? 30:35 Does trade policy of the early 20th century make sense in the 21st century 32:20 Bringing China into the world market didn't lead to liberalization 33:50 Will we be forced to cut an unfavorable trade deal with China? 36:35 Wouldn't it make sense that the US had a trade deficit based on our consumption? 38:35 If we aren't selling other countries goods we produce, they buy our assets and debt 40:50 NAFTA produced winners and losers regionally in the United States 41:50 What could we have done differently to minimize the negative impacts of NAFTA? 44:35 Production has shifted from country to country based on lower costs 46:05 Will American consumers actually be willing to pay more for American made products? 48:50 How can we unwind globalization without severely damaging the U.S. economy? 50:50 The Toyota Camry has more American made parts than the Detroit built cars 52:35 Does reshoring low-cost manufacturing make sense for consumers and American businesses? 53:50 Will poor implementation of policy hurt the goal of reshoring manufacturing? 56:35 How do you weigh the benefits of national security provided by trade agreements? 1:01:05 Does America risk losing allies to China's sphere of influence? 1:02:05 Should our allies get a better deal than those that are unaligned or adversarial? 1:04:15 Does more trade equal less war? 1:07:05 What type of reindustrialization is realistic and what isn't? 1:10:05 Lack of competition has led to problems with Boeing 1:12:35 How long will it take to reindustrialize? 1:13:35 Would TPP have furthered the goal of isolating China?1:16:35 Chuck's thoughts on the interview Oren Cass 1:17:27 Ask Chuck 1:17:35 Were the guardrails on the executive branch always this frail? 1:20:35 What do you expect out of Resistance 2.0? 1:21:30 Will the federal government intervene in college sports? 1:22:50 Does the media go too deep into the background of public officials prior to their public service?(Timestamps may vary based on advertisements)
Full Episode
Well, happy Monday, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Chuck Toddcast. So coming up, I got Oren Kass. Oren Kass is the chief economist and founder of the American Compass. What that is, is basically...
I would argue the intellectual sort of – the think tank that's trying to put an intellectual wrapping around Trumpism, however you want to call it, sort of this new populism that's on the right. And what interested me on Mr. Cass is that he is basically – He is basically the godfather of these tariffs. Now, he'll be the first one to tell you this isn't the way he would have implemented it.
In fact, he did a New York Times op-ed, which is what inspired me to put him on. As I've promised to you, even if I'm skeptical of an idea, that doesn't mean I don't want to have somebody on here making their case and let's workshop it and, you know, let's have a back and forth. I think the conversation that I have with Oren Kass about
the tariffs as they've been implemented versus perhaps how he would have implemented. We'll see. Look, it's a tough argument to make, which is you got to sort of take some medicine for a while before the goal of what these tariffs are, which is to return some manufacturing back to the United States. It's going to take a while. And the question is whether you can
get enough patience from the public to put this off and whether the theory is right. You know, can you really motivate certain industries that have decided to manufacture outside the United States to come back? Is there enough incentive to do that? I think we're all about to find out, obviously. Now, a little point of order here.
We did this interview before Donald Trump sort of flippantly said, well, Maybe kids for Christmas are going to have to go with fewer toys and the dolls might cost a little bit much. I will tell you, that is what I think is going to be the most fascinating part. And I don't want to prejudge the conversation I have with Oren Kass for you.
But if I were in his shoes, I'd be worried that my theory of the case is may never get a chance to to be tested because of the poor implementation by this administration, the haphazard way that they've been dealing with the tariffs and the fact that there's, I think the signal has been sent, everything's kind of negotiable.
And if that's the case, then how do you, when does a company decide, okay, I'm finally going to bring everything here. But I do think politically, this White House has done a terrible job communicating the tariffs in general, a terrible job sort of preparing the country, preparing business for this. When you listen to Mr. Cass, there was another way this could have been done.
And in an alternative universe, perhaps in a more transparent and methodical way that you try to implement something like this, there may have been more political support. But it actually brings me to where I want to focus most of my opener here, which is Look, I've certainly given this Trump White House a hard time. I think it's been a terrible 100 days for them politically.
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