Will Trumponomics Shrink or Expand U.S. Influence in the Global South?
Very quickly after taking office, the Trump administration has proposed a dizzying range of economic policy initiatives, many of which will likely have a deep impact on developing countries. The threat of tariffs as a broad-spectrum tool to achieve both trade and non-trade goals has rightly taken center stage in this discussion, but many states in the Global South are also exposed to bilateral disagreements with the US over industrial policy strategies, as well as to the negative global impacts from US fiscal and monetary policy shifts.
In this webinar, we discussed the motivations behind Washington’s actions, how states in the Global South might be affected by them, and the resulting impact on the US economy and on America’s global influence. It will feature Inu Manak, fellow for Trade Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations, Karthik Sankaran, senior research fellow, Geoeconomics, in the Global South Program at the Quincy Institute, and Todd N. Tucker, director of Industrial Policy and Trade at the Roosevelt Institute. The discussion was moderated by Sarang Shidore, director of the Global South Program at the Quincy Institute.
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Panelists
Inu Manak
Inu Manak is a fellow for Trade Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. An expert in international political economy, her research focuses on U.S. trade policy and the law and politics of the World Trade Organization. At CFR, she researches and writes on trade politics and institutions, dispute settlement, and development. In 2021, she published "The Development Dimension: Special and Differential Treatment in Trade" (Routledge Focus) with James Bacchus. She is currently writing a book about U.S. trade policy’s bipartisan shift toward protectionism. Previously, Dr. Manak was a research fellow at the Cato Institute’s Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies and a junior visiting fellow at the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration at the Graduate Institute in Geneva.
Karthik Sankaran
Karthik Sankaran is a senior research fellow in geoeconomics in the Global South program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Originally trained as a historian, he had a long career in finance beginning in 1997, where he focused on foreign exchange and fixed income in emerging markets. He then joined Eurasia Group as Director, Global Strategy, where he worked with country and regional teams to chart feedback loops among political and geopolitical risks, macroeconomics, and market responses. His interests include the structure of the international monetary and financial system; strategies for economic development and resilience; and the weaponization of finance and trade.
Todd Tucker
Todd N. Tucker leads Roosevelt's work on the role of governance and institutions in facilitating economic transformation. An expert on trade and political economy, Todd has testified before legislatures and expert committees around the world. He is author of "Judge Knot: Politics and Development in International Investment Law" (Anthem Press, 2018), along with other academic research. He has authored over 70 major reports, including authoring or editing: "The New US Trade Agenda: Institutionalizing Middle-Out Economics in Foreign Commercial Policy", "Industrial Policy 2025: Bringing the State Back In (Again)", and "Industrial Policy Synergies: Reflections from Biden Administration Alumni".
Sarang Shidore
Sarang Shidore is director of the Global South Program at the Quincy Institute, and a senior non-resident fellow at the Council on Strategic Risks. He is also a member of the adjunct faculty at George Washington University, where he teaches a class on the geopolitics of climate change. He researches and writes on the geopolitics of the Global South, Asia, and climate change. Sarang has more than 125 publications to his credit in journals, edited volumes, and media outlets in his areas of expertise, including in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Nation, South China Morning Post, Council on Foreign Relations, Energy Policy, Energy Research & Social Science and others.