On April 2, President Donald Trump announced sweeping tariff increases on almost every country the US trades with, amounting to a 54 percent tariff on China, 20 percent on Europe, 32 percent on Taiwan, and 46 percent on Vietnam. Michael R. Strain surveys the immense damage this will do to Americans and the global economy.

The president has cited a wide range of justifications for the policy, including the need to restore manufacturing, end trade deficits, punish unfair trade practices, and raise revenue. Derek Scissors digs into the details to show how this week’s announcement reflects the administration’s lack of a coherent and achievable trade strategy.

As trade policy dominates the news, the administration is also deciding the fate of TikTok’s status in the US. Chris Miller explains why tough enforcement of the congressional ban is essential to maintain America’s artificial intelligence lead over China.

Raising trade barriers with not just adversaries like China but also allies seriously endangers the United States’ geopolitical standing right as democracies around the world face renewed threats from aggressive authoritarianism. Political scientist and Asia expert Dan Slater provides essential historical context for this challenge by analyzing the struggle between authoritarianism and democracy in the 1970s and 1980s.

This week, Jay Bhattacharya took office as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the wake of executive actions that have frozen much of its funding for scientific research and cut over a thousand employees. Writing in The New Atlantis, AEI Center for Technology, Science, and Energy Director M. Anthony Mills explores the long history of NIH’s work to explain why Bhattacharya should embrace the opportunity to pursue constructive reform.