Conflicting Narratives on Tariffs and Political Influence

The Washington Roundtable is joined by Mark Blyth, a professor of international economics and public affairs at Brown University, to discuss how the bond market forced Donald Trump to retreat on some tariffs, and the risks of the President’s escalating trade war with China. “Ultimately, they can take the pain more than you can,” Blyth says, of the Chinese government. “They have locked down their cities for a year or more. They can deliver food through the window through drones. They don’t care if you cut them off from certain things. So getting into that fight is very, very destructive.”

This week’s reading:

• “Trump’s Do-Over Presidency,” by Susan B. Glasser
• “The Conservative Legal Advocates Working to Kill Trump’s Tariffs,” by Cristian Farias
• “At the Smithsonian, Donald Trump Takes Aim at History,” by David Remnick
• “The Trump Show Comes to the Kennedy Center,” by Katy Waldman
• “The Other Side of Signalgate,” by Rozina Ali

To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send in feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com with “The Political Scene” in the subject line.