The Big 3

Americans are paying more for beef than ever before, but the reasons extend far beyond temporary inflation or seasonal shortages. According to Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA , today’s record prices are the culmination of more than forty years of policy decisions that steadily weakened America’s cattle industry. This week on The Big 3 with senior economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg, th...

China’s growing influence in Latin America extends well beyond trade. According to CSIS Associate Fellow Henry Ziemer , Beijing has spent years building an interconnected maritime network that includes ports, shipping companies, cranes, cargo scanners, logistics software, rail corridors, and supporting infrastructure throughout the Western Hemisphere. Rather than viewing these investments individu...

This week on The Big 3, CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg sit down with Ben Carlson of SAFE’s Center for Strategic Industrial Materials to examine China’s growing dominance in steel, aluminum, and copper—and what it means for America’s industrial future. The conversation centers on SAFE’s new report, "Strategic Surpluses: China’s Economic Warfare on Major Metals," which...

This week’s episode of The Big 3 features special guest Rogan Quinn of Rhodium Group , author of Minerals, Metals and Megawatts: How China’s Power Generation Drives Its Industrial Metals Ecosystem . Quinn joins CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg to explain how China became what he calls an “electrostate” — an industrial power whose dominance in electricity generation, metals proce...

This week’s episode of The Big 3 welcomes Beth Baltzan, former senior advisor to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai during the Biden Administration and now deputy director of the Coalition for New Trade, for a wide-ranging discussion on how the global trading system broke — and what should replace it. Baltzan argues that the postwar system originally recognized the danger of unchecked capital...

This week’s episode of The Big 3 focused on CPA’s new report on the foreign control of America’s antibiotic supply chain and the collapse of the domestic production base that once supported it. CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg traced the story back to an East Syracuse, New York facility that once produced 70% of America’s penicillin supply, but now produces nothing, symbolizing...

This week’s episode of The Big 3 used CPA senior economist Mihir Torsekar’s recent Ohio State debate on whether tariffs are “just” as a springboard to examine three core arguments in the trade debate: affordability, employment, and production. First, Mihir and Andrew argued that the cost-of-living crisis is being misdiagnosed. While tariffs are often blamed for inflation, they noted that the bigge...

This week’s episode of The Big 3 with CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg centered on three major trade investigations that go to the heart of CPA’s industrial policy agenda: global overcapacity, forced labor, and revoking China’s permanent normal trade relations status. First, the crew examined the Section 301 overcapacity investigation, arguing that China remains the central driv...

On this week’s episode of The Big 3, CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg focused on a new metals proclamation, a pharmaceutical proclamation, and the one-year anniversary of President Trump's Liberation Day tariffs. The team explain why the new metals action is so significant: steel, aluminum, and copper tariffs will now apply to the full customs value of imported products rat...

THIS WEEK'S EPISODE OF "THE BIG 3" focused on the national security risks of America’s dependence on China for critical minerals processing, especially in the lead-acid battery supply chain. CPA senior economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg were joined by retired Major General Bill Crane and retired Rear Admiral Peter Brown to discuss CPA’s new report with the Responsible B...