In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Peter Draper to examine the G7’s evolution and whether it can remain relevant amid China’s rise, the growing influence of the G20, and internal divisions that are eroding the cohesion underpinning its role in global economic governance.

The Group of Seven (G7) has been at the apex of global economic governance for more than 50 years, emerging in the aftermath of the breakdown of the Bretton Woods system and the oil shocks of the 1970s to manage the economic fallout through shared approaches. Over time, it broadened into a mechanism for crisis management and coordination among advanced economies. Behind the scenes, extensive preparatory work sets the stage for informal, leader-to-leader exchanges where sensitive trade-offs can be negotiated away from public scrutiny and framed in ways that remain politically viable at home.

Today, however, the conditions that sustained this approach are shifting. The rise of China, the emergence of BRICS, and the growing weight of the Group of 20 have diluted the group’s relative influence, while domestic populist pressures — particularly in the United States — are straining its cohesion. The result is a more uncertain role for the G7 in an increasingly fragmented global order.

Tune in to this podcast as Peter Draper, Professor and Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade at the University of Adelaide, joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to unpack the G7’s evolution and its future in a more contested global landscape. The podcast draws on insights from The Elgar Companion to the G7, which he co-edited with Andreas Freytag and recently discussed at a Hinrich Foundation book talk.

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In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Dawn Shackleford, President of Looking Glass Trade, LLC, to analyze the Trump administration’s pivot to Section 122 tariffs as a rapid, temporary workaround after legal setbacks, examining the credibility of its balance-of-payments justification and the roles of the IMF and WTO in assessing its implications for US trade policy.

The Trump administration’s turn to Section 122 tariffs reflects a search for speed and legal durability in advancing its trade agenda after the Supreme Court blocked the use of emergency powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Designed as a temporary measure, Section 122 allows tariffs of up to 15% for 150 days, positioning the policy as a stopgap while more permanent tools — such as Section 232 and Section 301 — are pursued. Yet its reliance on a balance-of-payments justification raises questions about credibility, as such crises typically involve acute external imbalances and are subject to scrutiny by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) within World Trade Organization (WTO) processes.

Shackleford explains how the United States may be leveraging timing, procedural complexity, and partial product coverage to sustain the tariffs while remaining formally engaged in multilateral rules, arguing that the move underscores both the constraints of existing trade commitments and the continued relevance — and tension — of the WTO system.

Tune in to this podcast as Dawn Shackleford, President of Looking Glass Trade, LLC, and Consultant at the Hinrich Foundation, joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to discuss the Trump administration’s Section 122 tariffs, what they reveal about US trade policy, and the roles of the IMF and WTO. The podcast follows up on Shackleford’s recent article for the Hinrich Foundation, “Trump asserts trade payments problems. The IMF may want to sharpen its pencils.”

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In an Asia Insight podcast, Doug Strub moderates a discussion with Evan Medeiros and Gerard DiPippo on Dr. Medeiros’s Asia Policy essay “A New Era of U.S.-China Interaction: From Competing to Racing.” The essay examines the U.S.-China trade war in 2025 as a possible turning point in the U.S.-China competition, arguing that the trade war created new power dynamics around a supply chain race that centers on leveraging chokepoints in critical minerals and advanced technologies.

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In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Keith Rockwell, Senior Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, to examine why the WTO has reached an existential turning point as longstanding principles such as MFN treatment and consensus decision-making come under growing strain, and why modest reforms may not be enough to revive a system rooted in decades-old rules.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is facing mounting pressure as its core rules and negotiating processes struggle to keep pace with a more fragmented and politicized global economy. What was once designed as a forum for consensus among a small group of 23 like-minded economies has become increasingly difficult to manage with 166 members and divergent interests. At the same time, key principles such as “most-favoured-nation" (MFN) treatment and consensus decision-making — once central to the system’s transparency and predictability — are now contributing to the WTO’s institutional paralysis.

Rockwell argues that the current crisis has been years in the making, pointing to early warning signs such as governments blocking even routine steps like approving meeting agendas, as well as a growing shift toward plurilateral agreements among groups of willing members.

As governments explore alternative pathways outside the WTO framework, the risk is not only institutional drift but a broader shift in how global trade rules are written. The discussion examines what happens if the WTO can no longer deliver and what is at stake for the global trading system.

Tune in to this podcast as Keith Rockwell, Senior Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to unpack the WTO’s growing paralysis and dysfunction, from blocked negotiations to the rise of plurilateral agreements, and what this means for global trade governance. The podcast follows up on Rockwell’s recent paper for the Hinrich Foundation, “In dire distress: Modest reforms won’t save the WTO.”

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In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Mariko Watanabe, Professor with the Faculty of Economics at Gakushuin University, to examine how China’s pursuit of industrial scale has driven manufacturing dominance while fueling systemic overcapacity and mounting tensions in the global trading system.

China’s manufacturing dominance — now accounting for more than 30% of global output — reflects four decades of industrial strategy, state planning, and coordinated investment that have built one of the world’s most integrated production ecosystems. Yet the same system, anchored in the government’s Catalogue of Industrial Guidance, has also encouraged waves of investment into favored sectors regardless of market demand. This has fueled persistent overcapacity in industries ranging from steel and solar panels to electric vehicles and batteries, contributing to falling prices, global trade frictions, and what some economists describe as “immiserizing growth,” where expanding output depresses prices to the point that export earnings remain modest. As geopolitical rivalry with the United States intensifies, China increasingly treats industrial scale as a strategic asset, reinforcing a cycle of capacity expansion that risks deepening supply-chain fragmentation and destabilizing global markets.

Watanabe argues that addressing these pressures will require both domestic rebalancing toward consumption in China and stronger international cooperation — including more effective trade rules, safeguards, and coordinated action among middle powers — to prevent the gains from industrial scale from concentrating in a single economy.

Tune in to this podcast as Mariko Watanabe, Professor with the Faculty of Economics at Gakushuin University, joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to assess how China’s catalog-based industrial policy has driven remarkable manufacturing growth while generating structural distortions at home and growing frictions abroad. The podcast follows up on Watanabe’s recent article for the Hinrich Foundation, “China’s industrial policy a recipe for overcapacity.”

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In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Stewart Paterson, Senior Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, to unpack China’s rare earth monopoly and strategies taken by the West to break its dominance.

China’s control over rare earth minerals stems less from geology than from decades of industrial strategy, subsidies, lax environmental standards, and dominance over processing and refining. Recent export controls have exposed Western vulnerabilities, many rooted in offshoring and the loss of industrial ecosystems needed for advanced technologies. While the United States, the European Union, and allies have begun responding through legislation, investment, and initiatives such as the Minerals Security Partnership, diversification will take at least a decade and cannot be achieved through one-off interventions. Paterson emphasized that rare earths are only one example of broader hidden dependencies, warning that true economic security requires coordinated, cross-border industrial and trade strategies grounded in geopolitical alignment rather than isolated national solutions.

Tune into this podcast as Stewart Paterson, Senior Research Fellow at the Hinrich Foundation, joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to break down how China built its rare earths monopoly and what it means for global economic security and supply-chain resilience. The podcast follows up on Paterson’s recent paper for the Hinrich Foundation, “Lessons from how China played its rare earth card.”

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In this edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, Yuka Hayashi, Vice President of The Asia Group, sits down with former Wall Street Journal senior editor Paul Beckett to unpack the effects of the Trump administration’s tariffs on automakers around the world amid heightened global trade tensions.

The impact of President Trump’s auto tariffs has been uneven, with Japan, South Korea, and Germany most affected due to heavy reliance on US auto exports. Company exposure varies widely — Mitsubishi Motors faces full tariffs due to total imports for US sales, while Tesla and Ford are less affected due to complete domestic production.

Despite the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Trump imposed steep tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, citing national security under Section 232. Automakers have partly absorbed costs, but consumer prices are rising. The competition for auto production is fuelling political and economic strains globally.

Tune into this podcast as Yuka Hayashi, Vice President of The Asia Group, joins former Wall Street Journal senior editor Paul Beckett, in an interview hosted by the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA and supported by the Hinrich Foundation, to break down how Trump’s auto tariffs are reshaping global supply chains as key automakers are hit and trade relations become strained. The podcast follows up on The Asia Group’s recent paper for the Hinrich Foundation, “Tariffs hit some automakers more than others.”

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In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, Bloomberg's technology editor Vlad Savov sits down with Hinrich Foundation research contributor Michael Enright, professor in Global Business at Northeastern University, to unpack how smartphones have become a central battleground in the US-China tech rivalry.

The smartphone industry has become a key front in the US-China tech rivalry, with Chinese brands holding 60% of the global market share. China's industrial policies, such as Made in China 2025, have been crucial in advancing its tech sector though Chinese firms still rely on foreign technology. The US-China trade tensions have led to a decoupling in tech, but deep interdependence in manufacturing makes full separation difficult. Enright presents that going forward, both nations will likely pursue separate supply chains, with the US leading in advanced tech while global manufacturing becomes more dispersed. Both the governments and the tech companies will need to delicately balance the cost, competitiveness, and strategic independence in a rapidly shifting trade environment.

Tune into this podcast as Michael Enright, Pierre Choueiri Family Professor in Global Business at Northeastern University, joins Bloomberg tech editor Vlad Savov in a podcast co-organized by the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA and the Hinrich Foundation to break down how smartphones now represent a convergence of national security, corporate interests, and supply chain economics in the US-China technology competition. The podcast follows up on Enright’s recent article for the Hinrich Foundation, "China’s smartphone producers take on the world."

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