Executive Summary Last week, the World Trade Organization (WTO) concluded its 14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) to plan the institution’s agenda for the next two years. Reform was front-of-mind for all members, including the United States; its vision for the WTO focuses on constraining developing member privileges, ensuring leeway for security-based trade measures, and making member commitments more flexible in general, differing markedly from other proposals like that of … Continue reading
Executive Summary One of the United States’ main goals for the 2026 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) review is to open the supply-managed Canadian dairy market. This has been a continuous objective of Washington’s for decades; since 2020, inroads have been achieved, but the scope of such market openings seems unlikely to change in the contemporary geopolitical situation. For these … Continue reading
Executive Summary Mercosur and the European Union have signed a sweeping free trade agreement twenty-six years in the making; that same month, Argentina signed its own bilateral trade deal with the United States. Despite the optimism surrounding the EU deal, Mercosur is still hamstrung by institutional limitations and diverging member interests, preventing further integration. Given this, U.S. trade policymakers are apt to treat Mercosur members as the individual … Continue reading
Executive Summary Last month Canada and China reached a deal to reduce Canadian tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in return for lower Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola products; this agreement reflects the pragmatic pivot North America has taken toward the Chinese agricultural market. The Trump Administration’s threat of 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on Canadian imports if a deal goes through has created unnecessary conflict with Ottawa. U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) Agreement partners must realize their shared interests in dealing with Beijing and, in one form or another, coordinate … Continue reading
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its Current Year (CY) 2026 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) and related policy updates on November 5. While the final rule spans a wide range of Medicare payment and operational policies, the information collection request associated with the Medicare Prescription Drug Inflation Rebate Program introduces a particularly … Continue reading
Executive Summary: In response to the Chinese government’s threated export controls on rare earth minerals, the Trump administration has signed frameworks for cooperation on rare earth mining and processing with several countries. Almost all of these frameworks specifically mention price floors and other pricing controls as a potential policy tool. Though China is certainly engaging … Continue reading
On September 19, California Governor Gavin Newsom approved a bill renewing California’s cap-and-trade program until 2045. This renewal comes despite hostility toward state-level clean energy programs from the Trump administration, notably President Trump’s executive order that specifically criticized California’s cap-and-trade program. Continue reading
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY• The Trump administration furloughed almost half of Internal Revenue Services (IRS) employees and issued 1,300 layoffs during the October 2025 shutdown.• The cuts have delayed implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), making Republicans’ tax-simplification effort appear inefficient and disorganized.• Businesses and individuals now face higher costs as they rely more on … Continue reading
Executive Summary: Policymakers have increased attention to current account deficits. Though experts debate whether current account deficits negatively impact the economy, many have also put forward theories regarding the influence of money supply on the current account. The classic AA-DD model predicts that in the short term, an increase in money supply should result in … Continue reading
Aryan Mirchandani Executive Summary The recent AI boom has prompted policymakers to forecast exponential GDP growth in the near term, easing pressure on officials to act against rising national debt levels. The Trump Administration has utilized the AI efficiency boom to continue large levels of fiscal spending, as it implores that this boom will decrease … Continue reading
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