Trump’s Challenge to Free-Market Capitalism
Stakes in private companies. Handshake deals with chief executives. The president’s economic policy has drifted far from principles that long defined the Republican Party. Is it capitalism at all?
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Tariffs vs. Free Trade: Oren Cass Debates Larry Summers at Harvard Business School
In November, Harvard Business School hosted a debate between Oren Cass and Katherine Tai on one side, and Larry Summers and Robert Lawrence on the other, over the question: Should Read more…
Oren Cass Testifies Before House Foreign Affairs Committee
On January 14, American Compass chief economist Oren Cass appeared as a witness before the House Foreign Affairs Committee during their hearing titled Winning the AI Arms Race Against the Read more…
American Compass Releases Major New Collection on U.S. Trade Policy
“On Balance” charts a path from free trade orthodoxy to a results-oriented approach
On Balance
A new global trade paradigm for the United States
American Compass Releases Framework for America-First Chip Export Controls
American Compass today released “Stop Selling the Rope: Protecting American AI Dominance from China’s Globalization Playbook,” a policy framework calling for a complete prohibition on the sale of advanced AI Read more…
Stop Selling the Rope
Protecting American AI Dominance from China’s Globalization Playbook
Trump’s reshoring push is tripping over itself
The president vowed to bring factories home. But tariffs, immigration policies and spending cuts are turning that promise into a costly balancing act.
A Grand Strategy of Reciprocity
How to Build an Economic and Security Order That Works for America
Oren Cass Speaks to the World Knowledge Forum
Under Trump 2.0, the MAGA (Make America Great Again) economic agenda has become a defining force in American policymaking. In this solo address, Oren Cass, chief economist and founder of Read more…
Why U.S. tariffs for Canada and others won’t go away anytime soon
‘If you look at the broader arguments that the administration has been making, every country is being looked at for its specific trade abuses and for specific imbalances’
Trump’s selective populism pits MAGA against Wall Street
President Trump is pioneering a bespoke form of populism — championing workers against corporate elites on the one hand, and protecting big business on the other. … What they’re saying: “While the Old Read more…
Trump’s reversal on AI chips is a historic blunder
A short-term profit grab risks eroding America’s biggest advantage in the AI race.
Trade Agreements Must Put Workers First
Of all the technical flaws in the badly broken international trade system, the one most intuitive to the layman is the race to the bottom on labor. In the global Read more…
Trade Fueled Inequality. Can Trump’s Tariffs Reduce It?
The president has pitched his trade policies at workers who feel left behind by globalization. But that doesn’t mean trade barriers will revive factories and close income gaps.
Trump is remaking the global trade system even as some see trouble ahead
The president and his allies see a historic trade overhaul moving forward as promised.
When will critics admit Trump’s trade strategy is working?
Nearly four months after President Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement of higher reciprocal tariff rates on major U.S. trading partners, the dust has settled and the strategy is working. Over the last few Read more…
It’s No Bluff: The Tariff Rate Is Soaring Under Trump
The president has earned a reputation for bluffing on tariffs. But he has steadily and dramatically raised U.S. tariffs, transforming global trade.
‘He likes the game too much’: Why Trump isn’t sweating his lack of trade deals
As his July 9 deadline to reimpose steep tariffs approaches, Trump has only netted a couple of deals. He doesn’t seem too worried.
Globalism is dead, Zohran Mamdani too extreme and other commentary
Conservative: Globalism Is Dead The effect of President Trump’s policies on trade, immigration and the stock market shows a “three-dimensional collapse of the narrative atop which we built our economy Read more…
