Book Launch: ‘The Future of Trade: A North American Perspective’

Support for free trade and open markets in the United States and worldwide has declined in recent years. President Biden and his predecessors have increasingly pursued “Buy American” policies, embracing a level of support for industrial policies that has not been seen in the United States since the mid-1980s. This protectionism has broad bipartisan backing in Congress. Rethinking globalization raises the question of whether international trade should be considered a legitimate foreign policy tool (a political and diplomatic instrument), whether it should be pursued on the basis of its inherent goodness (an economic matter), or a combination of both.

These issues are explored in “The Future of Trade: A North American Perspective,” co-edited by David A. Gantz and Tony Payan (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023).

The Washington College of Law at American University and Rice University’s Baker Institute Center for the U.S. and Mexico hosted the book launch with panel conversations focused on reforms to the World Trade Organization, U.S.-China relations, and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. 

This event was sponsored by the Baker Institute Center for the U.S. and Mexico and the Washington College of Law at American University. The event was also made possible thanks to a grant from the Charles Koch Foundation.

Agenda