The Wisdom of the 1945 State Department:
Progressive Trade Policy is Good for American Foreign Policy

competition, Economy, Environment, WTO

For decades now, the conventional wisdom has led us to believe there is a tension between a progressive trade policy – one that focuses on values beyond returns to capital – and American foreign policy. This is a false tension, however. Far from impeding American foreign policy goals, a progressive trade policy advances them. FDR’s…

How to Make Trade Work for Workers
At Home and Abroad

competition, Economy, NAFTA, Rules of Origin, WTO

As the Trump Administration has recognized, trade involves a larger question consuming most countries: what kind of policy can make “it possible for most citizens, including those without college educations, to access the middle class through stable, well-paying jobs”? Trickle-Down Trade The Administration, however, can’t achieve this goal, because its trade policy is but an…

Joe Biden Wants to Be One of the Most Progressive Presidents Since FDR.
Here’s What That Means for Trade.

China, competition, Economy, WTO

Vice President Biden announced his intention to be one of the most progressive Presidents since FDR. What was FDR’s approach in the aftermath of the Depression? As the eponymous Roosevelt Institute has explained, “to restore the nation’s economic health FDR understood that he must do two things. First, re-establish the bond between the American people…

Tariffs, Wine, and Shoe Salesmen

Economy, WTO

On December 12, the United States Trade Representative announced plans to hike the tariffs on imports of certain European products as a result of the seemingly endless Boeing/Airbus dispute. Capitol Hill was immediately inundated with the usual panoply of hyperbolic claims that tariffs spell doom for {fill in the blank} industry on the target list.…