Whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris is in the Oval Office on January 20, 2025, a more protectionist trade policy is anticipated. Ben Conner is a partner in a trade policy consulting firm called DTB AgriTrade and made that point during the Next 5 Years Conference. Conner said Trump is advocating for more tariffs. “That’s certainly what he’s suggesting in his campaign promise and it’s in the Republican platform,” said Conner. “It’s questionable what authority he has to do that so we’ll have to see if he gets elected what might happen there, but at the moment it looks like we have to be prepared for more tariffs.” Conner described Harris as a blank slate. There is the expectation another Democratic administration would prioritize climate policy when adopting trade policy. “Clean energy is definitely going to be a focus for her and what that means on the trade front is a little more of an unknown. We just don’t know at this point how Harris would approach that.”
