Explaining America’s Trade Policy

No audio? Hover over the video player, and tap the Click to Unmute button.

On-demand recordings of FP Live conversations are available to FP subscribers.

The Biden administration has passed landmark legislations such as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the CHIPS and Science Act, which provide subsidies in clean energy and semiconductors worth well over $400 billion. But the inducements encourage U.S. companies to invest only at home—not elsewhere. Opportunistic firms in Asia and Europe have already begun to relocate investments to the United States.

Cue the protests from other parts of the globe: A chorus of nations are accusing Washington of fostering unfair competition.

But it’s not just the United States. The world over, countries are embarking on ambitious projects of industrial policy. What does that mean for trade and globalization?

FP’s Ravi Agrawal sat down with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the Biden administration’s top official tasked with mapping out and implementing the White House’s trade policy. Watch the conversation on FP Live, the magazine’s forum for live journalism, or read a condensed transcript.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai defends the Inflation Reduction Act and the United States’ focus on industry as responding to the challenge of a rising China.

Katherine Tai

U.S. trade representative

Katherine Tai is the principal trade advisor, negotiator, and spokesperson on U.S. trade policy. Prior to her position within the Biden administration, she previously served as chief trade counsel and trade subcommittee staff director for the House Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. Congress. Tai is an experienced World Trade Organization litigator.

Host

Ravi Agrawal

Editor in chief, Foreign Policy

Ravi Agrawal is the editor in chief of Foreign Policy, the host of FP Live, and a regular world affairs analyst on TV and radio. Before joining FP in 2018, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade in full-time roles spanning three continents, including as the network’s New Delhi bureau chief and correspondent. He has shared a Peabody Award and three Emmy nominations for his work as a TV producer, and his writing for FP was part of a series nominated for a 2020 National Magazine Award for columns and commentary. Agrawal is the author of India Connected: How the Smartphone Is Transforming the World’s Largest Democracy. He is a graduate of Harvard University.

Related

Upcoming Discussions

What China’s Economic Slowdown Means for the World

✓  

Registered

Ask a Question

Ask a Question

  1. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

  2. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

How to Reboot America’s China Policy

✓  

Registered

Ask a Question

Ask a Question

  1. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

  2. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

On-Demand from FP Live

Heather Cox Richardson on American Democracy

Historian Heather Cox Richardson has long grappled with questions of how democracy has weakened in the United States and how its citizenry can try to take back control. That topic is the focus of her new book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America. Richardson joined FP’s Ravi Agrawal for a wide-ranging discussion. 

  1. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

  2. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

Samantha Power on Development Diplomacy

Ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, FP editor in chief Ravi Agrawal sat down with USAID administrator Samantha Power for a wide-ranging interview. The two discussed USAID’s priorities for UNGA, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and how the Biden administration views the United Nations. 

  1. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

  2. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

The White House’s U.N. Agenda

As world leaders arrive in New York City for high-level meetings at the United Nations General Assembly, what are the White House’s main priorities? Linda Thomas-Greenfield is the Biden administration’s ambassador to the United Nations. She joined FP’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss the war in Sudan, the global food crisis, international cooperation in Ukraine, and the world’s progress in meeting the U.N.’s sustainable development goals.

  1. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

  2. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

Inside Taiwan’s Foreign Policy

FP’s Ravi Agrawal spoke with Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. The two discussed U.S. relations with Taiwan, tensions in the Taiwan Strait, semiconductors, and much else.

  1. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

  2. Only FP subscribers can submit questions for FP Live interviews.

    ALREADY AN FP SUBSCRIBER?

Foreign Policy’s forum for live journalism, convening experts and world leaders.

Loading graphics