Strategic Competition > Geoeconomic Statecraft
Trade & Industrial Policy
Strengthening Economic Resilience and Strategic Leadership
“Finding the right balance between markets and intervention is key... Only in tandem with its allies can the U.S. achieve the scale to sustain the international order and deter aggression.”
Kennedy founded the Economic Club of Minnesota that presents an annual Champion of Free Trade Award - here being presented to Senator Pat Toomey.
🔹 Strategic Context
- This page is part of WISC’s Strategic Competition framework, applying geoeconomic statecraft through the STEAD model — integrating Security, Technology, Economics, Alliances, and Diplomacy — to secure U.S. leadership across critical domains.
Why Trade and Industrial Policy Matter
- In an era of strategic decoupling, techno-economic rivalry, and supply chain disruption, trade and industrial policy have become core strategic tools.
- They no longer merely promote economic growth — they shape systemic influence, alliance resilience, and technological leadership.
- Strategic competition demands policies that:
- Strengthen trusted economic ecosystems
- Align industrial capacity with national security and innovation leadership
- Forge standards, partnerships, and supply chains that reinforce democratic values
- Without a coherent, forward-looking trade and industrial strategy, economic vulnerabilities become strategic vulnerabilities.
Strategic Priorities for Trade and Industrial Policy
- Align Trade and Industrial Tools to Strategic Competition: Ensure trade agreements, industrial subsidies, and regulatory policies strengthen trusted alliances and democratic systems.
- Balance Openness with Protection: Safeguard foundational technologies while remaining the world’s partner of choice for innovation and commerce.
- Expand Partnerships with Trusted Economies: Build supply chain coalitions, digital trade agreements, and infrastructure partnerships with democratic allies and emerging regional powers.
- Lead in Setting Global Technology and Trade Standards: Shape future rules for digital trade, supply chain transparency, labor protections, and environmental standards.
- Lead in Setting Global Technology and Trade Standards: Shape future rules for digital trade, supply chain transparency, labor protections, and environmental standards.
Insights & Engagements
🏛️ Engaging Administration or Congress, 📰 Op-Ed / Article / Quoted ✍️ Policy Brief 👥 Roundtable 🎤 Speaking / Moderating 🎥 TV/Video 🌐 Global
Balancing Expanding Exports and Industrial Strategy
As Much Openness as Outcompeting Authoritarians Allows
In today's strategic environment, preserving economic openness must be reconciled with the need to deter coercive state capitalism. The U.S. must engage with global markets while protecting foundational technologies, defending democratic values, and restoring domestic industrial strength. Trade policy must be neither dogmatic nor reactive—it must be strategic, principled, and competitive.
- 🎤 Preserving Market Dynamism While Blunting Market Distortions - Guest Lecture to Class of Georgetown Professor Dr. Nita Rudra - April 9, 2024
- 🎤 Speech: How Geopolitical Events are Impacting Globalization - USCIB Foundation Event - October 25, 2023
- 🎤 Speech: Must be Present to Win - Denver World Trade Center - May 21 2021
Policy Tools
Expanding Trade Agreements to Strengthen Strategic Ties
Modernizing existing trade frameworks and launching new agreements with democratic and strategic partners is essential to restoring U.S. credibility, diversifying supply chains, and promoting aligned development. These agreements must reflect today’s strategic realities—including technology access, labor standards, and environmental objectives.
Industrial Strategy: Investing in American Competitiveness
Industrial policy is essential to bolster domestic capacity, accelerate innovation, and ensure that the U.S. remains the partner of choice in global trade.
- 🎤 Speech - Economic Warfare - Foreign Policy Association's Great Decisions Program - March 20, 2023
Export Controls + Market Access: A Dual Imperative
- Restricting strategic technologies while maintaining access to global markets requires balance and alliance coordination. Technology controls that protect U.S. security must be paired with trade policies that preserve competitiveness and influence.
Strategic Alignment by Region
China, Tariffs, Sanctions & Enforcement
- Effective enforcement and strategic use of tariffs and sanctions remain vital tools in responding to economic coercion and unfair trade practices, particularly from China.
- 🎤 Speech: The Contemporary U.S. Economy - U.S. State Department Visitors Program - March 1, 2023
USMCA: Geopolitically Stronger as North America
- The U.S., Mexico, and Canada share not just a market—but a security perimeter. Enhancing regional integration strengthens supply chain resilience and strategic alignment.
- 🎤 Speech: Path Forward for USMCA - HOPE Binational Fellowship - May 24, 2023
Transatlantic Alignment: Rules, Norms & Green Trade
- Trade and climate policy must be coordinated with allies to avoid fragmentation and maximize global impact. Ongoing engagement on CBAM and digital trade reflects this imperative.
Indo-Pacific Engagement: Economic Statecraft in a Strategic Theater
- The Indo-Pacific remains the most dynamic and contested region for trade diplomacy. Aligning with allies like Japan, Korea, and Australia is essential to offering alternatives to China’s coercive model.
Partnerships with Emerging Economies: Building Trust and Economic Opportunity
- Forging equitable trade ties with Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia deepens U.S. influence and reinforces democratic development.
Closing Principle
Trade and industrial strategy are no longer domestic debates—they are strategic decisions that shape the rules, alliances, and prosperity of the 21st century.
👉 Related Pages
🔷 Featured Insights
Critiquing Tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico - Interview on NewsNation TV with Connell McShane - March 4, 2025
DeepSeek's 'Sputnik Moment' Exposes Holes In US Chip Curbs - Quoted in Barron's - January 29, 2025
Speech: Leave Colbert in Paris, Embrace Churchill and JFK Instead - Text of Sciences Po PSIA Speech at Sciences Po PSIA - October 14, 2024
Highlights regarding EU and US CBAM Approaches: Convergences and Differences - Edited Keith Rockwell's Report in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Foundation - August 14, 2024
360° View of New Tariffs on China - Wilson Center Experts 360° View, May 16, 2024
Fireside Chat with Senator Pat Toomey - Economic Club of Minnesota Champion of Free Trade Event - March 19, 2024
Navigating U.S. – China Strategic Competition - Moderator of Economic Club of Minnesota Panel - December 15, 2023
Looking Anew at Trade - Interactive Profile - Wilson Quarterly - February 2, 2023
Geopolitical Strategic Competition is a Team Sport - Op-Ed in The Hill - November 5, 2022