ECONOMIST & AUTHOR
Economist Ian Fletcher is one of America’s foremost experts on the problems of free trade. He is the author of Free Trade Doesn’t Work and the coauthor of The Conservative Case Against Free Trade and Industrial Policy for the United States.
He has been senior economist at the Coalition, a research fellow at the US Business and Industry Council, an economist in private practice, and an IT consultant. He was educated at Columbia University and the University of Chicago. He lives in San Francisco.
CPA Speakers Bureau Member: Ian Fletcher is available to speak to the topics of:
Food imports into the U.S. are on the rise. The trend now is for agricultural commodity trade deficits, rather than surpluses, with key commodities like beef usually in a deficit. Despite the increase in food imports, the Food and Drug Administration conducted far fewer than the annual goal of 19,200 inspections, according to FDA data.
Treasury Secretary nominee Scott Bessent faced a divided Senate Finance Committee on Thursday for another Trump nomination hearing this week. To his credit, Bessent demonstrated a masterful view of the macroeconomics around tariffs, trade, and currency.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) will be confirmed as Secretary of State. He had very little pushback in his confirmation hearing among his colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The United States is now on pace to reach a $39 billion agricultural trade deficit in 2024 amid all-time record imports.
