MAGA & Global Trade: Reset or Rupture?

The past eight months have been among the strangest in recent times. The Trump administration has given substance to its rhetoric on tariffs, redrawing the landscape of the world economy. There have been some deals, but the details are scant. Ambiguity, it seems, is not just a negotiating position, but also evident in outcomes. On the surface, allies and partners are seemingly being punished, while challengers and rivals are being courted. There’s a deep sense of coherence in policy.

So what is it that the Trump administration and the MAGA coalition that he rode to power truly want from the world? What is the economic order that they desire? Is there even a shared vision of the economic order America is trying to build? And behind the scenes, who is actually pulling the levers—on trade, on industrial policy, and on economic security?

To unpack all this I reached out to Peter Harrell, a leading expert on US economic statecraft. Peter is a Non-Resident Fellow at Carnegie and hosts the fantastic Security Economics podcast. Our conversation delves into the thinking driving the Trump administration’s policies on trade and economic security, the nature of the deals that the US has inked with some of its partners and allies, how Washington is recalibrating its China strategy, and what all of this means for India and the global economic order.

As always, I hope you enjoy the conversation. Please like, share, subscribe and rate the episode. And if you’d like to support the show or the work I do, feel free to reach out to me on my email.

About: The Great Power Show is a bi-weekly podcast featuring candid conversations and thought-provoking interviews with leading scholars, thinkers and practitioners on the geopolitical and geo-economic changes shaping our world.