The Trump administration has embraced an industrial policy that uses tariffs as a tool to strengthen domestic resilience and national security. While this approach is framed by its supporters as a long-term investment in economic sovereignty, it has raised concerns in Germany – particularly regarding trade disruptions, supply chains, and the future of the transatlantic alliance. DiPlacido will discuss why the trade deficit is a problem and explain why American conservatives are rethinking economic orthodoxy.
Mark DiPlacido is policy advisor at American Compass, a new but influential think tank of the New Right that, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “is doing as much or more to shape the national conversation and our economic policy than Washington’s largest think tanks.” Before joining American Compass, DiPlacido served as deputy policy director for the Ron DeSantis presidential campaign. He has prior experience at the Heritage Foundation, on Capitol Hill, and in the office of the US Trade Representative.
This is the first event in the new series Remaking America? Contesting Visions from Trump and Beyond, a cooperation between DGAP and the Cluster of Excellence “Contestations of the Liberal Script” (SCRIPTS) at Freie Universität Berlin. The series features leading thinkers, scholars, and policy voices from the United States who assess the emerging ideas and factions reshaping American democracy and foreign policy and their consequences for Germany and Europe.
Discussant:
Mark Hallerberg, Dean of Research and Faculty and Professor of Public Management and Political Economy at the Hertie School; Co-Deputy Director of SCRIPTS
Welcoming Remarks and Moderator:
Rachel Tausendfreund, Senior Fellow for USA/Transatlantic Relations, German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP)
Please register for the event via events@dgap.org.