WITA's Friday Exchange

Former Trade Negotiators Discuss This Week’s Tariff and Trade Developments

WITA's Friday Exchange is a news podcast hosted by WITA DC, with 60 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

WITA DC hosts WITA's Friday Exchange, a news show with 60 episodes published.

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  WITA's Friday Exchange

  Ep 60: Pushing Our Partners Closer — Canada’s Retaliation and the World Trading On

  Sep 11, 202651 min

  Marking the one year anniversary of The Friday Exchange , our trade insiders open up with personal reflections on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and the extraordinary international solidarity they witnessed while serving in and around USTR. They then turn to another turbulent week in trade, as Canada’s retaliatory tariffs took effect, prompting a United States response with another round of counter-retaliation. They touch on the proposed use of Section 338, the escalating U.S.-Canada dispute, Prime Minister Carney’s upcoming visit to Europe, and what it could all mean for upcoming U.S.-Mexico talks. Looking ahead, the group previews the September 24 U.S.-China summit, weighs expectations for possible deliverables, and considers how the pending Section 301 excess capacity actions could affect the EU, India, and other trading partners. They close with the BRICS summit in Delhi, India’s growing focus on bilateral market access, including with China, and the continued momentum behind CPTPP as countries look to deepen trade ties beyond the United States. Featured Speakers: Wendy Cutler, Senior Vice President, Asia Society Policy Institute; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Mark Linscott, former Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia and before that WTO and Multilateral Affairs and currently a Senior Advisor at the Asia Group and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Daniel Mullaney, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Moderator: Joe Damond, Non-resident Senior Associate at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in their Southeast Asia program; former Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia

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  WITA's Friday Exchange

  Ep 59: A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Action Please: Canada, China, and Tariff Politics

  Sep 4, 202645 min

  Featured Speakers: Dawn Shackleford, President at Looking Glass Trade, LLC; former Executive Director for Trade Agreements Policy & Negotiations, Department of Commerce; former Assistant USTR for WTO & Multilateral Affairs Ed Gresser, Vice President & Director for Trade & Global Markets, Progressive Policy Institute; former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics - author of the Trade Fact of the Week Chris Padilla, Senior Advisor, Brunswick Group; former Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Joe Damond, Non-resident Senior Associate at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in their Southeast Asia program; former Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia

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  WITA's Friday Exchange

  Ep 58: A Deal Within Reach, Until It Wasn’t: Why the U.S.-Canada Deal Collapsed

  Aug 28, 202647 min

  In this week's episode, our trade insiders unpack the collapse of a U.S.-Canada deal, tracing a week that moved from Smoot-Hawley-level tariffs and calibrated Canadian retaliation to Ambassador Greer's French-language olive branch and Prime Minister Carney's decision to walk away at the eleventh hour. The panel examines the politics surrounding Carney's decision and the three major sticking points of heavy trucks, French-language protections, and coordination on China. They consider what Canada's simultaneous engagement with the EU and China could mean for its broader trade strategy, and lastly close with a look at how the U.S.-Canada standoff is playing in Europe ahead of Carney's high-profile address in Strasbourg. Featured Speakers: Wendy Cutler, Senior Vice President, Asia Society Policy Institute; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Daniel Mullaney, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council; former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East Stephen Vaughn, Partner, International Trade, King & Spalding LLP; former General Counsel, Office of the United States Trade Representative under first Trump Administration Moderator: 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

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  WITA's Friday Exchange

  Ep 57: Everything Everywhere All at Once: Canada, Mexico, and What’s Next with the 301s?

  Aug 21, 202645 min

  With a deadline approaching on the Smoot Hawley Section 338 tariffs threatening $20 billion in Canadian imports, our trade insiders unpack a deal no one has seen yet, from what relief on autos, aluminum, steel, and lumber might look like to what the US may have secured on dairy and the removal of retaliation on autos and liquor. They weigh whether it's a win-win or a negotiating ploy to declare victory before the deal is finalized; whether Prime Minister Carney can sell it to the premiers; and what a revived Keystone XL might add to bilateral relations. Then to Mexico, the good student that has been addressing US concerns unilaterally for a year and only now watches Canada land 232 relief first. Finally, the long delayed 301 report on structural excess capacity: a serious effort to negotiate away barriers, or a pretext to replace the tariffs the Supreme Court threw out? They close on an agency under stress, doing everything everywhere all at once. Featured Speakers: Ed Gresser , Vice President & Director for Trade & Global Markets, Progressive Policy Institute; former Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Trade Policy and Economics - author of the Trade Fact of the Week Kate Kalutkiewicz , Senior Managing Director, McLarty Associates; former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Trade, National Economic Council, in the first Trump Administration Chris Padilla , Senior Advisor, Brunswick Group; former Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Moderator: Mike Smart , Managing Director, Rock Creek Global Advisors; former Director for International Trade and Investment, National Security Council, The White House; former Trade Counsel, Democratic Staff, U.S. Senate Committee on Finance

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  WITA's Friday Exchange

  Ep. 56: Kick the Dog to Avoid Poking the Bear: Canada's 232 Countdown, USTR's India Dilemma, a Transshipment Trojan Horse

  Aug 14, 202649 min

  Our trade insiders count down to the August 19th tariff deadline with Canada. Is an interim deal in the card and does trading away autos, steel, and aluminum leverage help or hurt the USMCA review and talks with Mexico? Then they turn to stalled Southeast Asian and Indian negotiations awaiting the pending excess capacity 301s, with deals already struck sitting unratified while countries jockey over rates and coverage. And the core debate: do the administration's latest China moves, new drone and polysilicon tariffs layered onto an existing truce, amount to kicking the dog to avoid poking the bear? What does that signal to neighbors wary of Beijing landing the better deal? They close with a weary eye on the administration's transshipment report and its missing piece: a plan to work with allies rather than go it alone. Featured Speakers: Wendy Cutler , Senior Vice President, Asia Society Policy Institute; former Acting Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Kellie Meiman Hock , Senior Counselor, McLarty Associates; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University former Director of Brazil and the Southern Cone, Office of the United States Trade Representative Mark Linscott , former Assistant USTR for South and Central Asia and before that WTO and Multilateral Affairs and currently a Senior Advisor at the Asia Group and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Moderator: Joe Damond , Non-resident Senior Associate at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in their Southeast Asia program; former Deputy Assistant USTR for Asia

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