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The Tariffs We Want—Plus, Blocking Student Deportations

On this episode of Start Making Sense, Lori Wallach outlines a progressive trade policy, and Jameel Jaffer explains the AAUP legal challenge defending activist students.

Jon Wiener

April 9, 2025

People take part in a protest against the arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a green-card holder who played a role in pro-Palestinian protests by members of ICE, outside the Newark courthouse on March 27, 2025, in Newark, New Jersey. (Kena Betancur / VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images)

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The Tariffs We Want, plus Blocking Student Deportations | Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

Trump’s tariffs are not really about trade, they’re a form of blackmail – but the alternative is not a return to the free trade policies introduced by Clinton and Obama. Lori Wallach of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project explains what kind of tariffs we need, combined with government support for reindustrialization.

Also on this episode: A major lawsuit challenging Trump over his efforts to deport pro-Gaza campus activists has been brought by faculty members at their universities. Jameel Jaffer reports on the AAUP case; he's executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and a former deputy legal director of the ACLU.

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Trump’s tariffs are not really about trade, they’re a form of blackmail—but the alternative is not a return to the free-trade policies introduced by Clinton and Obama. Lori Wallach of the Rethink Trade program at the American Economic Liberties Project explains what kind of tariffs we need, when combined with government support for reindustrialization.

Also on this episode: A major lawsuit challenging Trump over his efforts to deport pro-Gaza campus activists has been brought by faculty members at their universities. Jameel Jaffer reports on the AAUP case; he’s executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and a former deputy legal director of the ACLU.

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

The Nation Podcasts

Here's where to find podcasts from The Nation. Political talk without the boring parts, featuring the writers, activists and artists who shape the news, from a progressive perspective.

Election Protection in the Midterms, plus Racists and Neo-Nazis in the 1940s and 50s / Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

Trump’s efforts to block Democratic voting in the midterms, or overturn the results, is not going to work—Ian Bassin explains the widespread preparations underway for defending the election in November. Ian is co-founder of the organization Protect Democracy and winner of a MacArthur genius grant.

Also: In the aftermath of WWII, racists and antisemites organized to reverse the changes brought by the New Deal and the war, but their organizations were infiltrated and undermined by activists from the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, and the Non-­Sectarian Anti­-Nazi League. Steven J. Ross has that history – his new book is The Secret War Against Hate. 

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Jon WienerTwitterJon Wiener is a contributing editor of The Nation and co-author (with Mike Davis) of Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties.


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