China’s Record Trade Surplus and Washington’s Financial Trump Card
China’s trade surplus has crossed a dangerous threshold. In 2025, it exceeded $1 trillion for the first time, surpassing the previous record of $993 billion.
Mihir is a Senior Economist at the Coalition for a Prosperous America.
He has 15 years of experience researching at the intersection of international trade, U.S. industrial competitiveness, and national security. Mihir has led multiple statutory investigations examining the effects of foreign trade barriers on U.S. manufacturing, among other topics. His research on supply chains has been cited by the New York Times, Brookings Institute, and the Financial Times.
Mihir received his B.A. in Economics from Case Western Reserve University and dual Master’s Degrees in Applied Economics and Public Policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The China Dependence Big Pharma Doesn’t Want Washington to See
U.S. drugmakers are rapidly shifting the front end of America’s pharmaceutical ecosystem (e.g. discovery, early-stage-development, and the IP engine) to China through a surge of licensing deals and cross-border partnerships.
America’s Cost-of-Living Crisis Is a Wage Problem, Not a Price Problem
The current cost-of-living crisis – defined by the soaring cost of essential services – is not the result of excessive consumer demand or short-term inflation shocks. It is the product of decades of trade and industrial policy choices that weakened middle-class wage growth.
Torsekar: Defending America’s Copper Mills Will Take More Than Tariffs
Data centers powering AI need copper wiring and transformers. EVs use nearly four times more copper than gas-powered cars. Wind turbines, solar farms and the modern electric grid all depend on it. As such, copper is a building block of tomorrow’s economy and the backbone of America’s national security.
Torsekar: Trump’s Copper Tariff is a First Step. Here’s What’s Needed Now to Counter China
With President Donald Trump’s recent announcement of 50% tariffs on copper imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, the United States has correctly identified copper as a material of strategic national importance.
Copper Crisis: Why the U.S. Must Act Now to Save Its Copper Industry
If America fails to defend its copper industry today, it will lose the industrial backbone for tomorrow’s economy. The combination of speculative arbitrage, Chinese overproduction, and predatory pricing is decimating American copper mills.
Tariff Truths: What the Data Actually Says About Inflation, Revenue, and Reality
Depending on where you get your information, you would be forgiven for believing that we are getting buried by inflation, the stock market is in shambles, and that we need to start hoarding Chinese yuan to pay for our morning lattes.
How to Make Tariffs Work for National Security, Enforcement, and Revenue
The two Trump Administrations have reshaped the debate on U.S. trade policy. For the first time in decades, U.S. officials are no longer endorsing the “free trade” orthodoxy that has contributed to the erosion of its manufacturing sector. Instead, tariffs are now the centerpiece of U.S. plans to repatriate supply chains and reindustrialize America.
Tariffs and Capital Tools to Revive American Trade Policy
Decades of misguided trade policies have transformed the United States into the world’s consumer of last resort, absorbing the world’s excess savings at the expense of its manufacturing sector. U.S.-imposed tariffs are the first step towards rebalancing the system, but they aren’t sufficient.
