US Trade Update

Trade policy doesn’t take a summer vacation. On July 24, the US government imposed new tariffs for certain imported products from 60 trade partners arguing that these states, including the European Union, have not sufficiently upheld the prohibition of forced labor. These new tariffs replace the so-called reciprocal tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court in February. Also in July, the US declined the automatic renewal of the USMCA trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. And the Senate has passed the bill proposed by the late Lindsay Graham to authorize tariffs on Russia and China – a further broadening of executive authority.

As the Fall season begins, we will speak with Peter Harrell, one of the most renowned trade law experts in Washington, DC and former Senior Director for International Economics and Competitiveness at the White House. Which consequences do the new tariffs have for the effectiveness of the Turnberry agreement? If current US trade policies are pushing allies away, what does that mean for American strategic interests as the world’s leading economy? What is the future of the USMCA? What will the next round of escalation and deescalation with China look like, especially as Germany has warmed to proposals out of Brussels that would strengthen European measures against Beijing’s trade practices?

Speakers:

• Peter Harrell, Visiting Scholar, Georgetown Law School’s Institute of International Economic Law
• Julia Friedlander, CEO, Atlantik-Brücke