Trade Talks

By Chad P. Bown

What's Trade Talks about?

Chad P. Bown (Peterson Institute for International Economics) hosts a podcast about the economics of international trade and policy. From trade wars to trade deals, this podcast covers trade developments with insights and economic analysis from one of the world's top trade geeks.

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Trade Talks episodes:

01.30.2024
And that is all for Trade Talks
Goodbye for now, as old friend Soumaya Keynes joins Chad Bown to discuss why and what comes next.
12.19.2023
200. Has the USMCA improved working conditions in Mexico?
The USMCA was supposed to prevent workers from being mistreated at Mexican factories. How is it working so far?
12.10.2023
199. How trade economists busted corruption at the port
When customs officials in Madagascar cheated their country out of tax revenues, economists caught them. But the fight is not over yet.
12.03.2023
198. Inside Washington’s lobbying industry
What we know about the US lobbying industry and how it influences trade and other types of economic policy.
11.26.2023
197. Moving workers across Europe
How the European Union’s controversial “posting” policy impacted the movement of workers as well as local communities across the continent.
11.19.2023
196. How multinationals avoid taxes through technology licensing
Companies can avoid taxes by moving profits from IP royalties offshore. What would happen if that changed?
11.12.2023
195. How did Canadian workers adjust so well to US trade?
Canadian workers faced new competition after the sudden free trade agreement with the US in 1989. Why were they able to adjust so successfully?
11.05.2023
194. Industrial policy detectives: China’s subsidies for shipbuilding
A new way to measure China’s subsidies for shipbuilding reveals how much they transformed the industry for the country and world.
10.29.2023
193. Did multinationals enforce Bangladesh’s new labor law?
Following the Rana Plaza factory collapse, foreign companies promised to enforce Bangladesh’s new labor law. What happened next?
10.22.2023
192. Will more farm trade cause more deforestation?
As trade with farm exporting countries expands, governments must also consider how to prevent deforestation.
10.15.2023
191. Brazil’s trade opening and its toll on workers and crime
How Brazil’s trade liberalization of the 1990s led to unexpected and lasting impacts on workers and a temporary rise in violence.
07.30.2023
190. Climate change, floods, and the future of auto supply chains
What consumers can expect from auto companies investing in supply chain resilience as weather disasters loom.
07.23.2023
189. South Korea’s controversial industrial policy
How South Korea’s Heavy and Chemical Industry Drive policy of 1973-79 worked and may have contributed to its economic rise.
07.16.2023
188. Did responsible sourcing by multinationals help workers in poor countries?
What happened to workers and others in Costa Rica when global companies imposed new responsible sourcing codes of conduct on their suppliers.
07.09.2023
187. Industrial policy and the rise of Romania’s Silicon Valley
How a 2001 income tax break for Romanian software programmers helped transform the country’s information technology sector.
06.26.2023
186. How US lead regulations hurt Mexican babies
Higher US lead standards in 2009 resulted in more production and pollution from Mexican plants. Nearby infants and kids suffered.
06.18.2023
185. The historic collapse of Switzerland’s watch industry
New quartz technology and competition from Japan devastated the dominant Swiss watch industry of the 1970s. What happened next?
05.07.2023
184. The US-EU fights over electric vehicles and the Inflation Reduction Act
EVs headlined the transatlantic dispute over the Inflation Reduction Act. That feud may be over, but other conflicts remain.
04.30.2023
183. How the United States cleaned up container ship pollution
In 2012, the EPA started regulating maritime emissions of air pollutants. The shipping industry’s response offers lessons for other countries.
04.23.2023
182. Is China’s industrial policy working?
The “Made in China 2025” subsidies both provoked a trade war and inspired similar moves by the US and other economies. But have they worked?
03.21.2023
181. US-China trade war fallout: This is what decoupling looks like
How do we reconcile “record-level” US-China imports and exports when tariffs remain on more than half of trade between the two economies?
03.12.2023
180. The WTO is in trouble. Econ 101 to the rescue?
How understanding the WTO’s past can help foster its revival – including for policy challenges like climate and China’s non-market economy.
02.26.2023
179. Why Taiwan restricts high-tech investment into China
For decades, Taiwan has limited how and how much its tech firms like TSMC could invest in mainland China. Are there lessons for the United States?
02.19.2023
178. Why sanctions to stop Russian gas pipelines backfired
US sanctions on European allies repeatedly failed to stop Russian gas pipelines, harmed transatlantic ties, and undermined US policy.
02.12.2023
177. How the Rana Plaza factory collapse changed global supply chains
New research examines how NGOs, consumers, and major retailers responded to the outrage following the 2013 tragedy in Bangladesh.
01.29.2023
176. The Cold War scandal over export controls
The leakage of submarine technology to the Soviet Union in the 1980s has lessons for the limits to and coordination of allies’ export controls today.
01.22.2023
175. The dreaded WTO ruling on Trump’s national security tariffs
The WTO ruled against Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, dragging the organization into thorny national security issues.
12.18.2022
174. The incredible rise of Chinese fintech
New super apps and other internet-enabled technologies have transformed China’s financial sector, with global implications, says Martin Chorzempa.
12.08.2022
173: Did Britain’s slave trade help drive its industrial revolution?
New research reveals how Britain’s economy benefited from the brutal transatlantic slave trade and its slave holdings.
11.21.2022
172. Peru’s “China shock”: Surprising turns and the women left behind
A flood of imports from China had an unexpected impact on the Peruvian clothing industry while discouraging Peru’s women workers.
11.15.2022
171. What makes a supply chain resilient
New research examining India’s pandemic lockdowns sheds light on which supply chains stuck together, which broke apart, and why.
11.02.2022
170. National security, semiconductors, and the US move to cut off China
The history behind the sudden US ban on certain exports to China, and how the policy affects the global semiconductor supply chain.
10.25.2022
169. Taiwan’s risky trade opening and how it paid off
In the 1950s, Taiwan was the first poor economy to experiment with trade reform. How its success changed the course of history for others.
10.10.2022
168. Did Trump’s trade war make China more protectionist?
Why it matters that Chinese public opinion toward trade and technology may have changed in response to US policy.
10.03.2022
167. Will new US tax credits remake electric vehicle supply chains?
America’s new EV subsidies have some carmakers upset. Others are head scratching. Can supply chains diversify away from China?
09.21.2022
166. Biden’s new Indo-Pacific talks vs. TPP
America’s last attempt at trade talks with countries in the region ended badly. How Biden’s IPEF approach is different.
09.05.2022
165. The global minimum tax got left behind. What’s next?
The Inflation Reduction Act omits the key global minimum corporate tax agreed to by over 135 countries. Will cooperation still happen?
07.27.2022
164. Why a notorious banana company spared workers in Costa Rica
For decades, United Fruit Company exploited banana workers across its Latin American plantations, except in Costa Rica. Why?
07.19.2022
163. How poorer Americans ended up paying for US tariffs.
From fashion to forks to fishing reels, how US trade negotiations starting in the 1930s resulted in regressive import duties today.
07.05.2022
162. Poor countries could once enforce WTO trade. That is now at risk.
The Advisory Centre on WTO Law made trade enforcement possible for poor countries. The Appellate Body crisis put that under threat.
06.26.2022
161. Why sharing patents for COVID-19 medicines is not enough
Despite the Medicines Patent Pool, COVID-19 treatments remain scarce globally. Prashant Yadav explains what more is needed.
03.15.2022
160. How Putin’s war could disrupt global food supplies
Joe Glauber explains the humanitarian crisis that looms if war cuts wheat exports from Ukraine and Russia. Soumaya Keynes says goodbye.
11.08.2021
159. How Biden and Europe settled Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs
After years of dispute, the EU agreed to stop retaliating and to limit exports if the US lifted Trump’s national security tariffs.
10.11.2021
158. How America responded to its PPE shortage
The US reacted to COVID-19 shortfalls of hospital masks, gowns and gloves with unprecedented trade and industrial policy.
09.27.2021
157. Europe’s Trade Policy and Open Strategic Autonomy
Worried about being bullied by trading partners, the European Union is developing a host of new policy tools.
07.25.2021
156. Tackling climate change with a carbon border adjustment mechanism
CBAM! The EU proposes phasing out free permits from its emissions trading system and phasing in a carbon tax on some imports.
06.27.2021
155. How trade can break up with paper (it involves blockchain)
Legally and technologically, paper documents are essential to international trade. How that could change (it involves blockchain).
06.17.2021
154. Global Britain: How’s that going then?
A beginner's guide to the spat over Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol, plus the UK signs a new trade deal with Australia.
06.09.2021
153. Multilateral tax cooperation gets one step closer
The G7 economies agreed to a potential historic change in how governments tax multinational corporations.
03.22.2021
152. The murky world of export restrictions for COVID-19 vaccines
COVID-19 vaccines and vaccine inputs are in short supply globally. How the EU, UK, US and India are all limiting exports.

What's Trade Talks about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Trade Talks episodes:

And that is all for Trade Talks

200. Has the USMCA improved working conditions in Mexico?

199. How trade economists busted corruption at the port

198. Inside Washington’s lobbying industry

197. Moving workers across Europe

196. How multinationals avoid taxes through technology licensing

195. How did Canadian workers adjust so well to US trade?

194. Industrial policy detectives: China’s subsidies for shipbuilding

193. Did multinationals enforce Bangladesh’s new labor law?

192. Will more farm trade cause more deforestation?

191. Brazil’s trade opening and its toll on workers and crime

190. Climate change, floods, and the future of auto supply chains

189. South Korea’s controversial industrial policy

188. Did responsible sourcing by multinationals help workers in poor countries?

187. Industrial policy and the rise of Romania’s Silicon Valley

186. How US lead regulations hurt Mexican babies

185. The historic collapse of Switzerland’s watch industry

184. The US-EU fights over electric vehicles and the Inflation Reduction Act

183. How the United States cleaned up container ship pollution

182. Is China’s industrial policy working?

181. US-China trade war fallout: This is what decoupling looks like

180. The WTO is in trouble. Econ 101 to the rescue?

179. Why Taiwan restricts high-tech investment into China

178. Why sanctions to stop Russian gas pipelines backfired

177. How the Rana Plaza factory collapse changed global supply chains

176. The Cold War scandal over export controls

175. The dreaded WTO ruling on Trump’s national security tariffs

174. The incredible rise of Chinese fintech

173: Did Britain’s slave trade help drive its industrial revolution?

172. Peru’s “China shock”: Surprising turns and the women left behind

171. What makes a supply chain resilient

170. National security, semiconductors, and the US move to cut off China

169. Taiwan’s risky trade opening and how it paid off

168. Did Trump’s trade war make China more protectionist?

167. Will new US tax credits remake electric vehicle supply chains?

166. Biden’s new Indo-Pacific talks vs. TPP

165. The global minimum tax got left behind. What’s next?

164. Why a notorious banana company spared workers in Costa Rica

163. How poorer Americans ended up paying for US tariffs.

162. Poor countries could once enforce WTO trade. That is now at risk.

161. Why sharing patents for COVID-19 medicines is not enough

160. How Putin’s war could disrupt global food supplies

159. How Biden and Europe settled Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs

158. How America responded to its PPE shortage

157. Europe’s Trade Policy and Open Strategic Autonomy

156. Tackling climate change with a carbon border adjustment mechanism

155. How trade can break up with paper (it involves blockchain)

154. Global Britain: How’s that going then?

153. Multilateral tax cooperation gets one step closer

152. The murky world of export restrictions for COVID-19 vaccines