Trade is the backbone of the global economy, but its workings are a mystery to many. What is a tariff? What is a trade war? Why is trade so complicated? The chaos wrought by Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico – despite a thirty-day reprieve negotiated for the latter two – makes these and many other questions imperative to answer.
ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Sylvia Chen, International Trade Policy and Compliance Consultant, and Sara Nordin, Partner in the Global Trade Practice of international law firm White & Case, to gain some understanding of how international trade works. Together, they outline the basics of trade law, how tariffs connect to policy measures, and how they influence modern trade and global supply chains. This episode is a necessary exploration of the actual trade underpinning any potential trade war on the horizon.
This episode was recorded on 5 February 2025.
Chapters
- What does a trade lawyer do?
- Why are trade rules and laws necessary?
- What is a tariff?
- Why did Trump put tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China?
Mentions
- Trade Experettes website
- World Trade statistics
- Office of the US Trade representative statistics
- GATT
- WTO
Follow our guest:
- Sylvia Chen LinkedIn, Trade Policy Expert Advisory
- Sara Nordin LinkedIn, White & Case website
Follow us
- Instagram @women_leaders_podcast
- Ilana Bet-El
Credits
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- Production: Florence Ferrando
- Music: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-roll License code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
The European Leadership Network itself as an institution holds no formal policy positions. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the authors rather than the European Leadership Network or its members. The ELN aims to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time, to further its charitable purposes.
Image credit: Florence Ferrando
