Trade Talks
Episodes
207. What happened on Trump's tariff day
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Soumaya Keynes (Financial Times) joins to cohost an emergency episode explaining President Trump's sweeping April 2 tariff announcement. Bown and Keyn...
206. Paul Krugman talks trade, industrial policy, and Trump
16 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman (City University of New York) joins for a wide-ranging conversation on historical lessons as well as some new thinking abo...
205. Trump's Ukraine minerals deal and China
11 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A potential US-Ukraine critical minerals agreement is only the latest effort to address security concerns over US sourcing of critical minerals from C...
204. Is Europe ready for Trump?
06 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 arou...
203. What if Trump halts duty-free packages from China?
23 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Shipments of small packages from China have skyrocketed, but the de minimis policy that excludes them from tariffs may end. Chris Casey (Congressional...
202. Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs are back
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 (32:2...
201. Trade Talks is back. And so is President Trump.
08 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Tariffs from the new President call for an emergency relaunch of the longstanding trade podcast. Aime Williams (Financial Times) joins to explain what...
And that is all for Trade Talks
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Goodbye for now, as old friend Soumaya Keynes joins Chad Bown to discuss why and what comes next.
200. Has the USMCA improved working conditions in Mexico?
19 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The USMCA was supposed to prevent workers from being mistreated at Mexican factories. How is it working so far?
199. How trade economists busted corruption at the port
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When customs officials in Madagascar cheated their country out of tax revenues, economists caught them. But the fight is not over yet.
198. Inside Washington's lobbying industry
03 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What we know about the US lobbying industry and how it influences trade and other types of economic policy.
197. Moving workers across Europe
26 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How the European Union's controversial "posting" policy impacted the movement of workers as well as local communities across the continent.
196. How multinationals avoid taxes through technology licensing
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Companies can avoid taxes by moving profits from IP royalties offshore. What would happen if that changed?
195. How did Canadian workers adjust so well to US trade?
12 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Canadian workers faced new competition after the sudden free trade agreement with the US in 1989. Why were they able to adjust so successfully?
194. Industrial policy detectives: China's subsidies for shipbuilding
05 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A new way to measure China's subsidies for shipbuilding reveals how much they transformed the industry for the country and world.
193. Did multinationals enforce Bangladesh's new labor law?
29 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Following the Rana Plaza factory collapse, foreign companies promised to enforce Bangladesh's new labor law. What happened next?
192. Will more farm trade cause more deforestation?
22 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As trade with farm exporting countries expands, governments must also consider how to prevent deforestation.
191. Brazil's trade opening and its toll on workers and crime
15 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How Brazil's trade liberalization of the 1990s led to unexpected and lasting impacts on workers and a temporary rise in violence.
190. Climate change, floods, and the future of auto supply chains
30 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What consumers can expect from auto companies investing in supply chain resilience as weather disasters loom.
189. South Korea's controversial industrial policy
23 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How South Korea's Heavy and Chemical Industry Drive policy of 1973-79 worked and may have contributed to its economic rise.
188. Did responsible sourcing by multinationals help workers in poor countries?
16 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What happened to workers and others in Costa Rica when global companies imposed new responsible sourcing codes of conduct on their suppliers.
187. Industrial policy and the rise of Romania's Silicon Valley
09 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How a 2001 income tax break for Romanian software programmers helped transform the country's information technology sector.
186. How US lead regulations hurt Mexican babies
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Higher US lead standards in 2009 resulted in more production and pollution from Mexican plants. Nearby infants and kids suffered.
185. The historic collapse of Switzerland's watch industry
18 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
New quartz technology and competition from Japan devastated the dominant Swiss watch industry of the 1970s. What happened next?
184. The US-EU fights over electric vehicles and the Inflation Reduction Act
07 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
EVs headlined the transatlantic dispute over the Inflation Reduction Act. That feud may be over, but other conflicts remain.
183. How the United States cleaned up container ship pollution
30 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 2012, the EPA started regulating maritime emissions of air pollutants. The shipping industry's response offers lessons for other countries.
182. Is China's industrial policy working?
23 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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?
181. US-China trade war fallout: This is what decoupling looks like
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How do we reconcile "record-level" US-China imports and exports when tariffs remain on more than half of trade between the two economies?
180. The WTO is in trouble. Econ 101 to the rescue?
12 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How understanding the WTO's past can help foster its revival – including for policy challenges like climate and China's non-market economy.
179. Why Taiwan restricts high-tech investment into China
26 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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?
178. Why sanctions to stop Russian gas pipelines backfired
19 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
US sanctions on European allies repeatedly failed to stop Russian gas pipelines, harmed transatlantic ties, and undermined US policy.
177. How the Rana Plaza factory collapse changed global supply chains
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
New research examines how NGOs, consumers, and major retailers responded to the outrage following the 2013 tragedy in Bangladesh.
176. The Cold War scandal over export controls
29 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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.
175. The dreaded WTO ruling on Trump's national security tariffs
22 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The WTO ruled against Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, dragging the organization into thorny national security issues.
174. The incredible rise of Chinese fintech
18 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
New super apps and other internet-enabled technologies have transformed China's financial sector, with global implications, says Martin Chorzempa.
173: Did Britain's slave trade help drive its industrial revolution?
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
New research reveals how Britain's economy benefited from the brutal transatlantic slave trade and its slave holdings.
172. Peru's "China shock": Surprising turns and the women left behind
21 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A flood of imports from China had an unexpected impact on the Peruvian clothing industry while discouraging Peru's women workers.
171. What makes a supply chain resilient
15 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
New research examining India's pandemic lockdowns sheds light on which supply chains stuck together, which broke apart, and why.
170. National security, semiconductors, and the US move to cut off China
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The history behind the sudden US ban on certain exports to China, and how the policy affects the global semiconductor supply chain.
169. Taiwan's risky trade opening and how it paid off
25 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1950s, Taiwan was the first poor economy to experiment with trade reform. How its success changed the course of history for others.
168. Did Trump's trade war make China more protectionist?
10 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Why it matters that Chinese public opinion toward trade and technology may have changed in response to US policy.
167. Will new US tax credits remake electric vehicle supply chains?
03 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
America's new EV subsidies have some carmakers upset. Others are head scratching. Can supply chains diversify away from China?
166. Biden's new Indo-Pacific talks vs. TPP
21 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
America's last attempt at trade talks with countries in the region ended badly. How Biden's IPEF approach is different.
165. The global minimum tax got left behind. What's next?
05 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Inflation Reduction Act omits the key global minimum corporate tax agreed to by over 135 countries. Will cooperation still happen?
164. Why a notorious banana company spared workers in Costa Rica
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, United Fruit Company exploited banana workers across its Latin American plantations, except in Costa Rica. Why?
163. How poorer Americans ended up paying for US tariffs.
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
From fashion to forks to fishing reels, how US trade negotiations starting in the 1930s resulted in regressive import duties today.
162. Poor countries could once enforce WTO trade. That is now at risk.
05 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The Advisory Centre on WTO Law made trade enforcement possible for poor countries. The Appellate Body crisis put that under threat.
161. Why sharing patents for COVID-19 medicines is not enough
26 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Despite the Medicines Patent Pool, COVID-19 treatments remain scarce globally. Prashant Yadav explains what more is needed.
160. How Putin's war could disrupt global food supplies
15 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Glauber explains the humanitarian crisis that looms if war cuts wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia. Soumaya Keynes says goodbye.
159. How Biden and Europe settled Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After years of dispute, the EU agreed to stop retaliating and to limit exports if the US lifted Trump's national security tariffs.
158. How America responded to its PPE shortage
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The US reacted to COVID-19 shortfalls of hospital masks, gowns and gloves with unprecedented trade and industrial policy.
157. Europe's Trade Policy and Open Strategic Autonomy
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Worried about being bullied by trading partners, the European Union is developing a host of new policy tools.
156. Tackling climate change with a carbon border adjustment mechanism
25 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
CBAM! The EU proposes phasing out free permits from its emissions trading system and phasing in a carbon tax on some imports.
155. How trade can break up with paper (it involves blockchain)
27 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Legally and technologically, paper documents are essential to international trade. How that could change (it involves blockchain).
154. Global Britain: How's that going then?
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A beginner's guide to the spat over Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol, plus the UK signs a new trade deal with Australia.
153. Multilateral tax cooperation gets one step closer
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The G7 economies agreed to a potential historic change in how governments tax multinational corporations.
152. The murky world of export restrictions for COVID-19 vaccines
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine inputs are in short supply globally. How the EU, UK, US and India are all limiting exports.
151. Container shipping costs are through the roof. Who's paying?
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Companies and regulators have begun to worry about the spike in container shipping costs and pandemic-related trade disruptions.
150: Is the WTO making it harder to end the pandemic?
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
India, South Africa, and more than 50 other countries propose changing WTO rules for vaccines and other medical supplies. Rachel Silverman (Center for...
149. Everyone Loves (or Hates) Buy America
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
President Biden's first trade action was to tighten rules on what imports the US government can buy.
148. The EU's new trade policy, with Sabine Weyand of DG Trade
17 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Sabine Weyand joins to discuss EU trade policy, transatlantic cooperation and conflict, China, forced labor, WTO, climate and more.
147. What's in the new EU-UK trade deal? Brexperts explain
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The EU and UK announce their long-awaited trade agreement formalizing Brexit. What is covered, and what is still to be negotiated.
146. Semiconductors and US export bans – from Huawei to SMIC
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How and why the United States is banning exports of semiconductors, software and tools to some of the world's largest companies.
145. Xinjiang's forced labor, supply chains, and trade sanctions
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Concerns escalate that forced labor and other crimes against humanity are taking place in Xinjiang, China.
144. Trade policy transitions, with Ambassador Susan Schwab
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From tariff leverage to trade deals, a former USTR explains how the baton is handed from one American administration to the next.
143. RCEP – Separating fact from friction
18 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
China, Japan, South Korea and 12 other Asian countries finally signed that mega-trade deal. Here's what's in it.
142. Can Biden Make Trade Boring Again?
11 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The incoming US administration inherits a big trade agenda. Who will lead it and how much of it will they do?
141. Britain's Trade Policy, 1815-2016
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
From Corn Laws to Imperial Preferences to joining the EEC, Britain's current trade policy conundrum has echoes from the past.
140. Is shipping ship-shape?
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Containerized shipping is an odd business in normal times. What happens when you add a pandemic and a trade war?
139. How Technology Enabled Trade: Digitization and Offshoring
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
At the turn of the century, electronic communication suddenly helped firms fragment production, but only some went overseas.
138. Trade and the worst financial crisis of the century—in 1866
11 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
London's central role in 19th century trade finance meant that its bank failure had effects for decades.
137. Imbalances, Inequality, and Trade
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
China, the US and Germany each suffer from inequality and trade imbalances. Their linkages, and how policymakers try to fix them.
136. Vaccine economics, and why we need trade to end the pandemic
13 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala explains one way to solve the economic problem of how to manufacture and globally distribute a vaccine.
135. All you need to know about the race to lead the WTO
28 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What people want from the next leader of the World Trade Organization.
134. Opportunities and setbacks for Black workers in the 20th century
10 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Economic gains for America's Black workers stalled in the 1970s. The role of migration, policy and trade.
133. How one man and some metal boxes revolutionized global trade
29 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Malcom McLean spurred containerized shipping in the 1950s. The impact on people, ports, cities and, of course, trade, was massive.
132. US-China Trade War: The Negotiators
21 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How the people Presidents Trump and Xi tapped to negotiate helped shape the US-China trade relationship over 2017-2020.
131. How travel matters for trade
11 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Why Nigerian traders pay so much to travel to China, and how COVID-19 has made that more complicated.
130. So you want to design a tariff schedule…
31 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Making sense of the 'Global Tariffs' that the UK will begin to apply to thousands of imported products after Brexit is complete.
129. Operation Quack Hack: Are China's medical supplies safe to trade?
15 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Faulty Chinese medical gear emerges, as both the US and China adjust their product regulations in response to the pandemic.
128. Beautiful Trade in Ugly Times
26 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In good times, cosmetics are a logistical challenge, as dangerous goods go from ideas to store shelves. Now come the hard times.
127. The COVID-19 Trade Collapse: Lessons from 2009?
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Understanding the Great Trade Collapse of 2009 may help anticipate the impending decline in exports and imports today.
126. COVID-19 and Trade: Stories from the Data
27 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How companies are coping (or not) with the massive disruption in global trade flows due to COVID-19.
125. Coronavirus and Trade Restrictions
14 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Countries try to beat COVID-19 by limiting exports of medical supplies and cutting tariffs.
124. Is Trade Bad for Women?
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Does globalization contribute to the gender wage gap? Beata Javorcik joins to explain one overlooked channel.
123. Coronavirus: From Quarantine to Trade
28 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Simon Rabinovitch joins from China to discuss the economic, trade, and supply chain implications of the coronavirus disease, COVID-19.
122. Tariffs, Protests and Wine
23 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A Washington protest march and the wine industry illustrate the impact of US tariffs on American small businesses.
121. Can Infant Industry Protection Work? Evidence from Napoleon
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How the Napoleonic Blockade helps economists see whether temporary protection from trade can further industrial development.
120. Extreme Trade: The Rise and Fall of Glasgow's Shipbuilding
31 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What is the Glasgow effect? Richard Davies explains, and tells the gripping economic story of the Scottish city's boom and bust.
119. Stock Markets, the Economy, and Trump's Trade Policy Uncertainty
26 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Bloom joins to discuss policy uncertainty under President Trump and implications for the economy and stock market.
118. Ins and Outs of the US-China Phase-One Trade Deal
19 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Two former and longtime USTR negotiators join to explain the details of the new US-China trade agreement.
117. Trump's Import Tariffs Have Hurt US Exports
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
New evidence reveals Trump's import tariffs are contributing to the recent slowdown in US exports.
116. Fish Subsidies. What's the Catch?
30 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Why is the WTO struggling to negotiate limits to fisheries subsidies? As always, it's complicated.
115. The Trade War and US Elections
20 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
New research shows how Trump's trade war may have cost Republican seats in the 2018 election for the US House of Representatives.
114: US and China Announce a Phase-One Deal
16 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Trump's USTR provides some details of what has been agreed, including tariff cuts, purchases and structural reforms.
113: How and Why Congressional Democrats Tweaked the USMCA
14 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
USMCA gets one step closer after Congressional Democrats, organized labor, the Trump administration, and Mexico strike a deal.
112: Forensic Subsidies Detectives and Trade Disputes
09 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Government subsidies are a key battle area in today's trade disputes. The OECD has a new way to track them down.
111: Trade Policy Under Trump
25 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A former senior Trump trade official shares his take on US policy toward China, the EU and the WTO.
110: Will 3D Printing Increase Trade? Hear All About It
12 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
New evidence from the hearing aid industry on whether 3D printing will eliminate the need for trade.
109: A Different US-China Fight Hits the Headlines
05 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The WTO authorizes China to retaliate against US exports. The timing bodes poorly for an Appellate Body already under stress.