Trade Matters (Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance)

There is growing momentum around the effort to understand how Americans everywhere perceive the impact of trade policy and their role in international commerce. Catherine Novelli, President of Listening for America, draws on her experience as a trade negotiator and State Department official and recent conversations with over 1,000 Americans nationwide to discuss this trend. She explains why input from a broad swath of Americans is important to the development of trade policy, how the U.S. government is set up to receive feedback, and how diverse perspectives can be integrated into trade policymaking.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes

What Cathy is reading:
Five things to know about the Facebook lawsuits by Heather Kelly, The Washington Post, December 9, 2020

This episode is dedicated to the trade deals you haven’t heard about. Sometimes called mini or skinny deals, over the last few decades the U.S. has made over 1,200 of these agreements. These deals cover a range of issues, vary in scope, are often not made public, and rarely go out of force. They have one thing in common: all are initiated by the Executive branch and enacted without a final “thumbs up” from Congress. Kathleen Claussen, Associate Professor at the University of Miami School of Law and former associate general counsel at USTR, is tracking down these agreements. Kathleen joins us to explain what they are and what we need to know about them.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

What Kathleen has been reading lately:
How responsive is Trade Adjustment Assistance? Sung Eun Kim and Krzysztof Pelc
Afronomicslaw

U.S. small businesses are major beneficiaries of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a U.S. program that allows eligible developing countries to export certain products to the U.S. duty-free to spur economic growth in those countries. The program expires on December 31, 2020. Dan Anthony of The Trade Partnership and Coalition for GSP discusses the rationale for GSP, the issues at hand for Congress, and what’s at stake if it expires.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

What Dan Anthony has been reading lately:

Rising Import Tariffs, Falling Export Growth: When Modern Supply Chains Meet Old-Style Protectionism by Kyle Handley, Fariha Kamal, and Ryan Monarch

Bruce Hirsh, founder of Tailwind Global Strategies and former Legal Advisor to the U.S. Mission to the World Trade Organization, explains why the World Trade Organization’s highest appeals court—the Appellate Body—may cease to function as of December 11, 2019, and why it matters. He discusses why the Appellate Body was created, the critiques about how it operates, and the dynamics that led to this crisis point. He also weighs in on whether the crisis was inevitable and what he sees as the greatest risk posed by a collapse of the Appellate Body. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

Closing Pandora's Box: The Growing Abuse of the National Security Rationale for Restricting Trade by Simon Lester and Huan Zhu

Kellie Meiman Hock, Managing Partner at McLarty Associates, walks through the challenges playing out in the run-up to USMCA’s entry into force on July 1, including the deal’s new rules for the auto industry, labor provisions, and U.S.-Mexico differences over how to define what is an “essential business.” She also weighs in on the debate over regionalizing supply chains brought about by Covid-19 and where she sees the greatest potential wins in ongoing U.S.-Brazil trade negotiations. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

Clashing Over Commerce, Douglas A. Irwin

Trade is Not a Four Letter Word, Fred Hochberg

TradeVistas.org Editor-in-Chief Andrea Durkin dives into the U.S.-China Phase One deal, explaining why she believes it is an example of U.S. leadership at its best and how it may help U.S. agriculture over the long term. She also discusses the lesser-known joint effort of the U.S., EU, and Japan to tackle industrial subsidies to state-owned enterprises—a problem at the heart of the U.S.-China dispute—and highlights a trade issue that she believes should get more attention in 2020 and beyond. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

Redesigning Trade Deals in the Age of Trump by Andrea Durkin

How China's Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, June 2018

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

Dr. Michael Plummer, Eni Professor of International Economics at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Director of SAIS Europe, discusses all things Asia, emphasizing the three things he thinks are “the big news” from the region: the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP); the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP); and economic integration in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). He explains why political and strategic implications surrounding trade negotiations are often more important than the economic ones, using his own research on India’s withdrawal from RCEP to demonstrate the point. He also tells us why we should be paying more attention to ASEAN. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

Going It Alone in the Asia-Pacific: Regional Trade Agreements Without the United States by Peter A. Petri, Michael G. Plummer, Shujiro Urata, and Fan Zhai

The Truth About Trade by Douglas A. Irwin

How the U.S. should engage in the Asia-Pacific region will be high on the trade policy agenda for the incoming Biden administration. Wendy Cutler, Vice President of the Asia Society Policy Institute, draws on her long career as a U.S. trade negotiator to explain what’s at stake in the region, what the future may hold for U.S.-UK and U.S.-Kenya trade negotiations now underway, and how CPTPP member countries view the potential return of the United States to the agreement. She also discusses what a presidential transition looks like from inside USTR and offers steps the U.S. government could take to gather more input from Americans on trade policy.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:
Reengaging the Asia Pacific on Trade: A TPP Roadmap for the Next U.S. Administration by Wendy Cutler

What Wendy is reading:
Press Conference by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe March 15, 2013

The world trading system is at a turning point, and the role of the World Trade Organization is at the center of the discussion. Clete Willems, Washington lawyer and former White House trade advisor, makes the case for reforming the WTO across all three of its pillars: negotiations, implementation and monitoring, and dispute settlement, and points to a critical alliance to move the system forward: the US and EU.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

What Clete Willems has been reading lately:

Geopolitical Alpha: An Investment Framework for Predicting the Future by Marko Papic

Related reading and listening:

Revitalizing the World Trade Organization by Clete Willems

Why is there a Crisis at the World Trade Organization? Trade Matters Podcast, Episode 5

Kenneth Smith Ramos, who served as Mexico’s lead negotiator on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), explains how Mexico approached the negotiation and walks through one of the major sticking points that has held up the pact’s consideration by the full U.S. House of Representatives: labor provisions and how they would be enforced. He describes a key strategy Mexico employed to build domestic consensus in Mexico around USMCA, which helped lead to the deal’s ratification in the Mexican Senate in June, 2019. He also explains why the periodic review built into USMCA is useful not just for policymakers—but for all of us. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

Emmanuel Macron in His Own Words The Economist, 11/7/2019

When the U.S. loses a trade dispute at the World Trade Organization, how does that decision impact U.S. domestic politics and electoral outcomes? Economists and political scientists are teaming up to propose a new research agenda to examine risks facing international economic institutions and connections to domestic politics. Dr. Renee Bowen, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Commerce and Diplomacy at UC San Diego, discusses what she and colleagues have learned so far and where they believe there are still gaps in the research.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes: Designing an International Economic Order: A Research Agenda by Renee Bowen and J. Lawrence Broz

What Dr. Bowen is reading: Clashing Over Commerce: A History of US Trade Policy by Douglas A. Irwin

Most global trade in goods moves by sea—but what makes that possible? U.S. Navy Admiral (Ret.) James Stavridis walks through the global network of naval forces that supports international trade and discusses the linkages between this system and national security, power and prosperity. He also discusses his experience building an anti-piracy maritime coalition that included Russia, China, and Iran when he served as NATO Supreme Allied Commander—and what lessons that may offer today as Russia and China build up their naval forces at a time of increased trade tensions.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

What Admiral Stavridis has been reading:

Pedaling Protectionism: Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression by Douglas Irwin

How do we adjust to a competitive global economy and define the challenges facing workers? Grant Aldonas, former Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, discusses what he calls a misdiagnosis of the problem, political constraints on changing the conversation, and the need to review domestic policies that can be obstacles to economic mobility. Part one of two on “adjustment.”

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes

A town renewed: Factory in tiny DeWitt, Nebraska, putting tools on the market again, Omaha World Herald, May 2021

Salman Ahmed, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and project editor of a new report on Nebraskans’ views of foreign policy, discusses the report takeaways—including what surprised him most about Nebraska. The project was designed to test assumptions about how U.S. foreign policy interacts with the economic wellbeing of the middle class and bring heartland voices to a debate that is typically influenced by coastal cities. He also discusses possible ways to better integrate the economic experience of American citizens into the foreign policymaking process. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

U.S. Foreign Policy for the Middle Class: Perspectives from Nebraska, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the University of Nebraska

Nebraskans Support Trade But Trust in Media and Washington is Low by Jill O'Donnell

System Maker and Privilege Taker: U.S. Power and the International Political Economy by Michael Mastanduno

Failure to Adjust: How Americans Got Left Behind in the Global Economy by Edward Alden

The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics by Jefferson Cowie

What happens when trade rules can’t keep up with the consequences of global economic integration? Jonathan Hackenbroich of the European Council on Foreign Relations explains how countries leverage economic interdependence to apply political pressure in pursuit of a range of policy goals and why the World Trade Organization was not designed to reign in this behavior. He also shares insights on the European Union’s proposed Anti-Coercion Instrument--the bloc’s unprecedented response to rising instances of economic coercion.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes

Tough trade: The hidden costs of economic coercion by Jonathan Hackenbroich, Filip Medunic and Pawel Zerka, February 2022
Measured response: How to design a European instrument against economic coercion by Jonathan Hackenbroich and Pawel Zerka, June 2021
Anti-coercion instrument explainer

What Jonathan has been reading lately:
The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War by Nicholas Mulder (Yale University Press, 2022)

Enjoy listening? Leave us a review and submit a topic idea or question for future episodes.

Darci Vetter, Vice Chair of Agriculture, Food and Trade at Edelman and former U.S. Chief Agricultural Negotiator, explains why food security depends on the free global movement of food, how Covid-19 has impacted food supply chains, and how protectionist actions can backfire. She also discusses the U.S.-China Phase One trade deal and raises an issue in U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade that she believes looms even larger than USMCA implementation. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

‘Sadness’ and Disbelief From a World Missing American Leadership, Karin Bennhold, New York Times

Export Prohibitions and Restrictions, World Trade Organization, April 23, 2020

Carl Pilon, Senior Trade Commissioner at the Consulate General of Canada in Minneapolis, explains the role of Canadian trade commissioners in the U.S.-Canada trading relationship, the Canadian perspective on next steps before USMCA takes effect, and the potential impact of new covid-19 related border restrictions on U.S.-Canada trade. He also discusses the top question he gets from Canadian businesses about Nebraska and the region covered by the Minneapolis consulate. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Show Notes:

The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement: Economic Impact Assessment Global Affairs Canada, February 26, 2020

Dr. Douglas Lippoldt, Chief Trade Economist at HSBC Global Research in London, explains why the U.S. and EU are each other’s largest trade and investment partners despite never having negotiated a free trade agreement, what’s at stake as the two parties negotiate a limited trade deal, and why agriculture is a longstanding sticking point in U.S.-EU trade. He also explains what Americans and Europeans might misperceive about each other’s agricultural systems. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

Trade and American Leadership: The Paradoxes of Power and Wealth from Alexander Hamilton to Donald Trump by Craig VanGrasstek

Lippoldt, D., “Labour markets trade up: International commerce delivers economy-wide benefits”, HSBC Insights, 4 October 2019

Lippoldt, D., “New trade deals deliver: early gains from Pacific Basin and EU-Japan accords”, HSBC Insights, 16 May 2019

OECD (2012), Policy Priorities for International Trade and Jobs, (ed.), D. Lippoldt, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

Lippoldt, D. (2015), "Innovation and the Experience with Agricultural Patents Since 1990: Food for Thought", OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Papers, No. 73, OECD Publishing, Paris

Trade policymakers at the World Trade Organization and elsewhere have begun to think about trade as an instrument that can improve gender equality across the world. What do they need to know to design trade agreements and rules that can help women? Kate Francis, an independent consultant currently serving as a gender advisor at The Asia Foundation, explains the barriers that women face to economic empowerment, how they differ from place to place, and what kind of data we need to inform strategies that can make a difference.

All views expressed by Francis in this podcast are her own. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes

• No Silver Bullet for Women Entrepreneurs, Kate Francis
• Can fashion ever be fair? Bama Athreya
• The Rise and Decline of Patriarchal Systems: An Intersectional Political Economy, Nancy Folbre
• The World Bank’s Gender Data Portal
• data2x
• Is Access to Information One Solution to Growing Women’s Economic Opportunity in Asia? Jill O'Donnell


Enjoy listening? Leave us a review and submit a topic idea or question for future episodes.

Has the parlance of trade kept up with changes in the way trade actually happens? Dr. Phil Levy, Chief Economist at Flexport and former White House and State Department economic policy adviser, joins us to discuss this gap, why it exists, and how it relates to public expectations about what trade agreements can and should accomplish.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes

Does the U.S. Need a Vigorous Industrial Policy? by Phil Levy and Christine McDaniel, Discourse Magazine, February 16, 2021

Trade Adjustment Assistance is set to expire July 1, with no signs to date that Congress will soon act to renew it. Grant Aldonas is back on Trade Matters with part two on “adjustment.” Aldonas discusses Trade Adjustment Assistance and the components necessary for what he would call a true adjustment assistance program, one that addresses the broader challenge confronting workers and fosters nimbler and more proactive responses to change.

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

What Grant’s been reading lately:
Open: The Story of Human Progress by Johan Norberg
The Rise and Decline of General Laws of Capitalism by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

In the US-China Phase One Deal, China agreed to make 57 structural changes that improve market access for agricultural goods. The majority of those changes have been implemented. U.S. Chief Agricultural Negotiator Ambassador Gregg Doud discusses the significance of these changes, what it took to reach an agreement, and why he describes the deal as “historic.”

Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

What Ambassador Doud has been reading lately:

The Accidental Superpower: The Next Generation of American Preeminence and the Coming Global Disorder by Peter Zeihan

How to Set World Trade Straight, Wall Street Journal Opinion, Robert E. Lighthizer

How to Make Trade Work for Workers, Foreign Affairs, Robert E. Lighthizer

Katrin Kuhlmann, Visiting Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and President and Founder of New Markets Lab, discusses a region where she sees unprecedented levels of enthusiasm around harnessing trade’s potential to boost economic growth: Africa. She describes emerging new approaches to international economic law, explains why the African Continental Free Trade Agreement could be a landmark for trade and development, and unpacks how some developing countries are benefiting from U.S.-China trade tensions. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

World Trade and Investment Law Reimagined: A Progressive Agenda for an Inclusive Globalization Edited by Alvaro Santos, Chantal Thomas, David Trubek

Trade and Poverty Reduction: New Evidence of Impacts in Developing Countries Joint Publication by the World Bank Group and the World Trade Organization, 2018

Coalition for GSP

David Morfesi, director of international trade at MinterEllison, Australia’s largest law firm, discusses the relationship between global health and trade, including the role of trade experts at the World Health Organization, how countries use trade measures differently during public health crises, and why the reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic will be as unprecedented as the event itself. He also explains what the pandemic may mean for supply chains in the future and how it may change views of China when it comes to trade. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Show Notes:

DDG Wolff: Time to start planning for the post-pandemic recovery World Trade Organization, April 9, 2020

Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Dr. Christine McDaniel explains why traditional trade statistics have not kept up with changes in how trade actually happens—and how this can distort our understanding of trade. She describes how two trends—trade in value added and trade in services—lead to misinterpretations of our trade data and discusses how our approach may need to change. She also walks through the unintended consequences of U.S. trade remedy regulations and describes her number one recommendation for changing U.S. trade law. Opinions expressed on Trade Matters are solely those of the guest or host and not the Yeutter Institute or the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Show Notes:

The Downstream Costs of Trade Remedy Regulations by Christine McDaniel and Veronique de Rugy

The Great Convergence by Richard Baldwin