Tariffs: Are They That Bad? A Panel Discussion and Happy Hour
Date and Time
Apr 2, 2026 6:00 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Apr 2, 2026 6:00 pm
450K
Does the impact of Trump’s policies challenge or affirm theories about free trade? One year after "Liberation Day" what have we learned?
6:00-6:30pm: welcome
6:30-7:15pm: panel discussion
7:20-9:00pm: discussion continues over a drink!
Does the impact of Trump’s policies challenge or affirm theories about free trade? Should we return to the period of free trade or are there more desirable alternatives? On the one year anniversary of “liberation day,” join the conversation with leading experts on trade policy about the impact of new tariffs on the U.S economy.
Moderator:
Claire Jones is the FT's US economics editor. Based in Washington, DC, Claire reports on the Federal Reserve and the Trump Administration's attempts to reshape the world's largest economy. She joined the FT in 2011 to cover economics and markets from London, before switching to Frankfurt to write about the European Central Bank and the Eurozone. She holds a degree in economics and philosophy from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
The speakers:
Beth Baltzan served as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Trade Representative. Ms. Baltzan previously served as an attorney at USTR from 2003 to 2009. In 2009, Ms. Baltzan joined the Office of International Affairs at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, working on oversight in the wake of the financial crisis. In 2012, the PCAOB detailed Ms. Baltzan to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where she investigated banking practices. Ms. Baltzan then served as Democratic Trade Counsel for the House Ways and Means Committee from 2012 to 2016. After returning to USTR to work on litigation matters, in 2017 Ms. Baltzan formed her own trade consultancy practice. She was also a fellow at the Open Markets Institute. Ms. Baltzan received her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center. She received her Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, with honors, from Stanford University.
Brad W. Setser is the Whitney Shepardson senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). His expertise includes global trade and capital flows, financial vulnerability analysis, and sovereign debt restructuring. He regularly blogs at Follow the Money. Setser served as a senior advisor to the United States Trade Representative from 2021 to 2022, where he worked on the resolution of a number of trade disputes. He had previously served as the deputy assistant secretary for international economic analysis in the U.S. Treasury from 2011 to 2015, where he worked on Europe’s financial crisis, currency policy, financial sanctions, commodity shocks, and Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, and as a director for international economics on the staff of the National Economic Council and the National Security Council.
Ecumenical Economics is a nonpartisan forum for to explore, question, and reimagine economics beyond the mainstream lens. Our programs connect thinkers, practitioners, and communities developing alternative approaches to economic policymaking.
