America’s AI Boom Has a Trade Policy Blind Spot
Mihir Torsekar
May 5, 2026
The AI data center buildout has exposed three distinct failures in U.S. trade and industrial policy.
MIHIR
TORSEKAR
SENIOR ECONOMIST
Mihir Torsekar is a Senior Economist at the Coalition for a Prosperous America.
Â
Â
Mihir brings 15 years of experience researching at the intersection of international trade, U.S. industrial competitiveness, and national security. His experience includes 12 years at the U.S. International Trade Commission, where he led multiple statutory investigations examining the effects of foreign trade barriers on U.S. manufacturing, among other topics.
Â
His research on supply chains has been cited by the New York Times, Brookings Institute, and the Financial Times.Â
Â
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.Â
THE LATEST FROM CPA
Started in America. Stayed in America. Whirlpool Corporation’s Ohio Investments and the Case for Domestic Manufacturing
Mihir Torsekar
April 10, 2026
Founded in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1911, Whirlpool has spent more than a century building appliances on American soil while its competitors either left for cheaper production overseas or were sold outright to foreign buyers.
Fusion and the Future of American Power
Mihir Torsekar
April 7, 2026
The race to commercialize nuclear fusion will define the next era of geopolitical power. By one estimate, a single glass of fusion fuel carries the energy equivalent of one million gallons of oil, enough to power a home for more than 800 years.
60 Minutes Shows America the Plan to Let China Win in Shipbuilding
Mihir Torsekar
April 1, 2026
A recent 60 Minutes segment gave the Cato Institute a platform to argue that America’s shipbuilding crisis proves protectionist industrial policy has failed. The opposite is true: the crisis is the product of four decades without an industrial policy.
