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No one understands the dynamics with key U.S. trading partners better than the people who led these kinds of difficult trade negotiations for the United States. Panelists will update our viewers on the trade policy announcements, what remains undone; and what are expected next steps in these trade negotiations.
This week’s episode examines the legal durability of Section 301 tariffs and the untested Section 338s as tools for enforcing forced-labor and discrimination-based tariffs. The insiders weighed how each section has fared before the courts and what procedural gaps, like country-specific fact-finding, could weaken them on appeal. The panelists consider whether these actions are genuinely about changing trading partners’ practices or simply generating leverage against China. The conversation then shifts to the state of USMCA negotiations, contrasting a slow-moving Mexico track with a more contentious Canadian one shaped by rules-of-origin disputes. Finally, the panel closes with a look at China’s response to recent excess capacity claims, acknowledging that arguments demand more rigorous evidence to hold up.
Featured Speakers:
Peter Harrell, Visiting Scholar, Georgetown Institute for International Economic Law; former Senior Director, International Economics, at the White House under President Biden
Kellie Meiman Hock, Senior Counselor, McLarty Associates; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Board Member, Inter-American Dialogue; former Director of Brazil and the Southern Cone, Office of the United States Trade Representative
Stephen Vaughn, Partner, International Trade, King & Spalding LLP; former General Counsel at the Office of the United States Trade Representative in first Trump Administration
Arun Venkataraman, Partner, Covington & Burling LLP; former Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, U.S. Department of Commerce