S9 Ep22: World War Trade
From VoxTalks Economics by VoxTalks
April 2, 2026 · 27 min · Season 9 · Episode 22
About this episode
The episode discusses the implications of the US tariffs and China's export controls on global trade dynamics.
On 2 April 2025, the United States imposed tariffs on almost every country on earth. The next day, China responded with export controls on the entire world. In the space of one week, world trade had been weaponised as it has never been in peacetime. Richard Baldwin of IMD Business School, the founder of VoxEU and a former president of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, wrote World War Trade to make sense of the events of the last 12 months. The dramatic April salvos have settled into a trade Cold War; US tariffs and Chinese export controls are lodged in place, with neither side expecting the other to back down. And yet world trade grew in 2025; exports from every country rose except from the US, which recorded its largest trade deficit. The rest of the world is self-organising a new order. When one country joins a rules-based regional agreement, the cost of staying out rises for the next. EU-Mercosur and EU-Australia deals, stalled for years, crossed the line. An expanding CPTPP and early alignment talks between the EU and CPTPP blocs are pulling more partners in. The old system was a cathedral built and maintained largely by the US; the architect burned it down. Something…
People in this episode
Host: Tim Phillips
Guest: Richard Baldwin
Topics covered
- world trade
- tariffs
- export controls
- trade Cold War
- economic policy
- regional agreements
Keywords
- tariffs
- China
- United States
- trade deficit
- CPTPP
- EU-Mercosur
- economic policy
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: IMD Business School, VoxEU, Centre for Economic Policy Research
Books & works: World War Trade, World War Trade: Conflict, Containment, and the Emergent World Trading Order
Places: United States, China
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