This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, November 11th, 2020.

I'm Caleb Brown.

On some issues, it would be welcome news that the election delivered Joe Biden to the White House and not Donald Trump.

But on the issue of trade, the prospects for freer global markets for goods and services

is less clear.

Cato's Dan Eekinson and Simon Lester discuss what a Biden presidency might mean for

the freedom to trade.

The current occupant of the White House, Donald Trump has, is not making it very easy to do a transition for the like very

likely incoming Biden administration what does that mean for trade, if anything?

I'm not sure that that has a distinct impact on trade.

I mean, the main issue here is President Trump's trade policy, I think has been characterized by protectionism, cronyism, mean-spiritedness.

Joe Biden's policy will be more polite.

So I think we can expect to see sort of in the minimal departure in the short run.

There are tariffs in place. There are a lot of people

suggesting that maybe as a gesture of goodwill toward our allies we can lift some of these

steel and aluminum tariffs, maybe some of the China tariffs, and then down the road maybe rejoin the TPP, which is now the CP TPP, and show some support for the World Trade Organization by endorsing the current otherwise consensus

candidate to be Director General and relinquishing our chokehold over the appellate body appointment process. But you know,

Biden's going to have a hard time with all of this because he campaigned as the

candidate who's tougher on China. He campaigned as somebody in favor of

buy American provisions and repatriating supply chains just like Trump and

you know Trump has made it difficult for Biden in the sense that he commandeered democratic trade

policy, the kinds of policies that the Democratic Congress has wanted for many decades and it's going to be hard

...