Executive Summary Although President Trump has paused his April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs for 90 days, he continues to threaten imposing sector-specific tariffs in the near future. The threatened sectors include pharmaceuticals, copper, lumber, chemicals and minerals, semiconductors, and energy, which combined account for roughly 20-percent of U.S. imports. This research estimates that if the … Continue reading
Author Archives: Killian Hughes
How Biden Helped to Create Trump’s Unilateral Trade Policy Process
Executive Summary The second Trump Administration has used more executive power than most previous administrations when creating trade law. President Biden also used historically strong executive authority when making trade law, including his Section 232 tariffs, emergency export restrictions, and CFIUS capital outflow clamps. The resulting new bipartisan consensus on using executive authority to make … Continue reading
Playing Chicken with a Coyote: Why the U.S. has Less Leverage over Mexico than Trump Believes
Executive Summary Tomorrow, the United States will impose blanket 25% tariffs on Mexico, which has promised retaliation. Mexico has much stronger incentives to follow through with retaliation than they did during their first trade dispute with President Trump in 2018. They also have a large arsenal of economic tools at their disposal to put pressure … Continue reading
