Hudson Institute Events Podcast

“The year 2025 will be remembered as the year of the tariff,” wrote Ambassador Jamieson Greer, the United States trade representative, in a Financial Times op-ed at the end of last year.

In its first year back in office, the Trump administration wielded tariffs to strike new trade deals at negotiating tables around the world. Representatives from the White House made stops in Geneva, Madrid, London, Kuala Lumpur, and Busan—and that was just for talks with the People’s Republic of China.

The US also sought new terms with numerous friendly nations, culminating in the Turnberry Agreement between the United States and the European Union and including framework deals with key allies Japan, the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Korea.

In the new year, trade remains at or near the top of the White House’s international agenda, from ongoing regulatory disputes with Europe to the impending review of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) and negotiations between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The Supreme Court’s ruling on the use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act has injected yet another complicating dynamic into trade discussions. If 2025 was the year of the tariff, what will 2026 be known as?

The National Security Strategy argues that rebalancing global trade relationships also means “consolidating our alliance system into an economic group.” How does the administration intend to pursue this objective? Please join Ambassador Greer for a fireside chat with Senior Fellow Peter Rough on what’s next for US trade policy.

Nearly three months after Nicolás Maduro's capture, Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez is consolidating her grip on power. In a sweeping shakeup, she replaced nearly half of her cabinet and all senior military commanders, including replacing defense minister Vladimir Padrino López with Gustavo González López, who has been sanctioned by the US for his past role in repression. Of Maduro's original inner circle, only three remain in the regime.

Over 500 political prisoners are still behind bars, and a new amnesty law has proven to be very selective. Yet Rodríguez faces a potential new source of internal pressure, with labor groups protesting frozen wages and pensions.

In the meantime, as the Trump administration pursues its phased transition strategy, it is deepening its partnership with the Rodríguez government. In recent weeks, the US formally recognized Rodríguez as Venezuela's sole leader, expanded sanctions relief beyond oil and gas to include the mining sector, and downgraded the State Department's travel advisory.

Join Hudson Institute for a discussion with former US Ambassador to Venezuela James Story to examine developments in Venezuela and prospects for Washington’s strategy.

After years of subsidized, debt-driven growth and centrally directed economic policy, China is now mired in a slowing economy relying on massive exports to sustain stability. The nation faces growing debt problems, a faltering social safety net, failing productivity growth, and increasing foreign resistance to its heavily subsidized mercantilist model.

Will China lapse into a Japan-like spiral of stagnation and financial instability? Does the United States now have an opportunity to push back against Chinese efforts to win the global technology race and undermine its economic and political leadership?

Join Hudson Institute for a panel that will discuss Dr. Duesterberg’s new report on the Chinese economic model and how policymakers should consider its vulnerabilities when formulating strategy to counter Beijing’s practices.

For decades, Europe developed along an east-west axis while the north-south spine of the continent remained underleveraged, its energy networks fragmented and its transit corridors incomplete. Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed the calculus. In the aftermath, Europe can no longer treat connectivity as a secondary concern. The Three Seas Initiative, linking twelve European Union member states from the Baltic to the Adriatic to the Black Sea, has emerged as one of the most serious efforts to close that gap through targeted investment in energy, transport, and digital infrastructure across Central and Eastern Europe.

Whether the initiative can fulfill its promise depends on political will, sustained capital, and transatlantic coordination at a moment when American engagement with Europe is being questioned.

Please join Ambassador Romana Vlahutin and Research Fellow Zineb Riboua for a conversation on the Three Seas Initiative and its role in shaping Europe's new geography of power.

Congressman Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) will join Michael Doran, Director of Hudson’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, for a timely discussion about the evolving situation in Iran. Congressman Baumgartner brings a distinctive perspective shaped by his professional experience in the Middle East, where he worked on economic development and governance initiatives in complex and often volatile environments. His firsthand insight into the region’s political and security dynamics will inform a grounded assessment of current U.S. strategy.

Together, Congressman Baumgartner, member of the Republican Policy Committee, and Doran will examine the objectives and risks of Operation Epic Fury, the broader regional implications, and the policy choices facing Washington in the weeks ahead.