Marc Levinson

On May 19, the U.S.

President Trump’s much-heralded visit to Beijing appears to have gone less than swimmingly.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in London for the annual meeting of the Business History Conference, a professional group I’ve been involved with for many years.

The U.S. attack on Iran has diverted attention from the tariffs the United States has applied liberally since Donald Trump took office in January 2025.

The Trump Administration’s Maritime Action Plan, released on February 13, proposes to channel potentially enormous amounts of money into the flaccid U.S. shipbuilding industry.

The point of trade agreements, above all, is to establish clear rules for cross-border commerce, so businesses can make sensible decisions about importing, exporting, and investing.

Those who follow international trade pay close attention to forecasts of economic growth, consumer spending, and business investment.

The International Maritime Organization, one of the more obscure agencies of the United Nations, doesn’t normally get much attention in Washington.

Since it first carried international trade in the 1960s, the container shipping industry has been notoriously cyclical: years of strong trade growth and strong profits have been followed by periods of less robust trade, excess capacity, collapsing cargo r…

U.S. tariffs supposedly generated a record $31 billion in revenue during the month of August.