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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.

Norm Eisen on the Paramount-Warners Merger, plus Trump and TV News / Start Making Sense
byThe Nation Magazine

The primary force behind the settlement that will allow Trump’s allies at Paramount to take over Warners-Discovery and CNN was Gavin Newsom, who pressured California Attorney General Rob Bonta to end the anti-trust fight defending media independence. Norm Eisen explains – he’s co-founder and executive chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund and Democracy Defenders Action, and, the New York Times reported, “the leader of a coalition of entertainment and news industry professionals who opposed the deal.”

Also: After Trump banned CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House newsroom, the TV networks united in refusing coverage of his events – including Fox News. John Nichols has our analysis.

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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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