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Progress Report
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News, events, and must-read analysis from the Progressive Policy Institute.
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** Howard Lutnick Suggests Condensed Milk Is Made of Metal
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By Ed Gresser
Vice President and Director for Trade and Global Markets
for The Wall Street Journal ([link removed])
Memo to Howard Lutnick and his Commerce Department: When you find yourself saying that milk is made of metal, it’s a sign that you’ve gone wrong somewhere. That’s essentially what the department has done by applying steel and aluminum tariffs to canned condensed milk.

This bizarre tariff scheme comes from a mid-August Federal Register notice ([link removed]) announcing that goods in 407 different product categories “will be considered as steel or aluminum derivative products.” Anyone buying these goods from abroad must pay ([link removed]) a 50% tariff on the metal they contain.

This is the latest chapter in the long saga of steel and aluminum tariffs. In 2018 the first Trump administration put a 25% tariff on most steel and a 10% tariff on most aluminum. The tariffs failed to reshore American manufacturing: According to U.S. Geological Survey data, the U.S. makes less aluminum ([link removed]) and less steel ([link removed]) than in 2017. The tariff onslaught has continued in the second Trump term. This March, President Trump added more steel and aluminum products to the list, reinstated the 25% steel tariff, and raised the aluminum tariff to 25%. In June he raised the rates to 50%, and in July he added copper.
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Join us for an event Monday!

What Robert F. Kennedy’s Liberal Patriotism Could Teach Political Leaders Today, ft. Rep. Ritchie Torres

On Monday, September 29, AEI’s Ruy Teixeira and PPI's Richard Kahlenberg will be joined by panelists to share the valuable findings of their report, What Robert F. Kennedy’s Approach Could Teach Political Leaders Today. AEI President Robert Doar, PPI President Will Marshall, and Representative Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) will discuss the importance of RFK’s tradition in contemporary America.
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** How Citizens Can Fight MAGA Cancel Culture
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By Will Marshall
President of the Progressive Policy Institute
for the New York Daily News ([link removed])
The outbreak of political and corporate cowardice in America since Donald Trump’s return to the White House is reaching epic proportions.

ABC’s short-lived suspension of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” is just the latest example. With some honorable exceptions — I never thought I’d be cheering for Harvard — almost every public or private entity seems to be caving in to Trump’s dictates.

The president is engaging in a kind of Godfather cosplay, turning the executive branch into a Mafia-style extortion racket. Nice little network you’ve got there; it’d be a shame if something bad were to happen to it.
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New from the Experts

Tim Sprunt, Policy Analyst, and Ben Ritz, VP of Policy Development: A Pragmatic Path Forward On Premium Tax Credits
⮕ New PPI Report ([link removed])

Claire Ainsley, Director of the Project on Center-Left Renewal: Winning Back Working America: The Challenges and Opportunities Facing Democrats
⮕ PPI A ([link removed]) nalysis ([link removed])

Will Marshall, President: How Democrats Can Get Their Economic Mojo Back
⮕ T ([link removed]) he Hill ([link removed])

Paul Weinstein Jr., Senior Fellow: Fed Dot Plot Highlights Wide Disparity Of Views On Future Rate Cuts
⮕ Forbes ([link removed])

Richard D. Kahlenberg, Director of Housing Policy and the American Identity Project: The College Board Capitulates to Trump
⮕ Washington Monthly ([link removed])

Tamar Jacoby, Director of the New Ukraine Project: Kyiv’s E-Points Drone Marketplace—An Amazon For Frontline Units
⮕ Forbes ([link removed])

Trade Fact of the Week: Americans are buying 22 tons of Ukrainian honey daily
⮕ PPI's Trade Fact of the Week ([link removed])
NEW PPI REPORT
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The purpose of PPI’s annual Investment Heroes report is to shed light on patterns of domestic capital investment by large U.S.-based companies. As in the past, the 2025 Investment Heroes list ranks companies by their capital investment in the U.S., as estimated by our analysis of corporate financial reports.

Our topline finding: This year’s top 25 Investment Heroes invested a collective $403 billion in the U.S. economy in 2024, driven by the shift to the AI-Enabled Economy. This is a 23% increase from last year’s report. By comparison, overall U.S. nonresidential investment rose by just 5.3% in 2024.

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Listen Up
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Radically Pragmatic
How Governors Can Empower All Students, ft. Governor Jared Polis

In the second episode of his "Back to School" series, PPI's Bruno Manno sits down with Colorado Governor Jared Polis to talk about his new report "Let’s Get Ready! Educating All Americans for Success. ([link removed]) "

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Staff Spotlight: Tim Sprunt

[link removed] Analyst, Center for Funding America's Future
Tim Sprunt is a Policy Analyst with PPI’s Center for Funding America’s Future, which develops fiscally responsible policy proposals to strengthen public investments in the foundation of our economy, modernize health and retirement programs to reflect an aging society, transform our tax code to reward work over wealth, and put the national debt on a downward trajectory.

Prior to joining PPI, Tim was a program manager for the Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility at the American Enterprise Institute. Tim began his career as a research assistant at AEI analyzing federal safety net programs.

Tim is originally from central Pennsylvania and enjoys playing tennis, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
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