Former US ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Maria Pagán joins for a wide-ranging conversation about US government concerns with the WTO, the Trump administration's actions so far, and the failures of the recent ministerial conference in Cameroon (33:00).

Thomas J. Bollyky (Council on Foreign Relations) joins to explain the problems facing the US pharmaceutical market, the Trump administration's new tariffs and pricing deal with the United Kingdom, and the impact on American drug prices as well as supply chain security (30:10).

Aime Williams (Financial Times) joins Chad Bown to help explain what has happened since President Trump's sweeping April 2, 2025 tariff announcement. They discuss the surprises in the US import and export data from 2025, trading partner retaliation, the deals, and what comes next after the Supreme Court's February 2026 decision (22:01).

Soumaya Keynes (Financial Times) joins to cohost an emergency episode explaining President Trump's sweeping April 2 tariff announcement. Bown and Keynes turn to Douglas A. Irwin on history, Maurice Obstfeld on the US dollar, and Kathleen Claussen on law to clarify what we know about the tariff actions so far (29:14).

Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman (City University of New York) joins for a wide-ranging conversation on historical lessons as well as some new thinking about international trade, the "agglomeration economies" driving geographically concentrated production, industrial policy, as well as the policy environment under President Trump (42:12).

A potential US-Ukraine critical minerals agreement is only the latest effort to address security concerns over US sourcing of critical minerals from China. America's previous top diplomat for critical minerals, Geoff Pyatt (former Assistant Secretary of State, former US ambassador to Ukraine) joins to explain (33.47).

Europe had a rocky ride during President Trump's first term, but it was largely spared from significant tariffs. The world is different this time around. Former European Commission trade official Rupert Schlegelmilch joins to explain (34:32).

Shipments of small packages from China have skyrocketed, but the de minimis policy that excludes them from tariffs may end. Chris Casey (Congressional Research Service) joins to explore the history of the US de minimis policy and Amit Khandelwal (Yale University) shares economic research into the question of what happens if the policy ends (37:33).