Fudan-Arab Lecture Series No.25

Title

Who Pays the Trump Tariffs? US Fiscal and Trade Policy in 2026

Speaker

Prof. Mark Robbins, Fudan IGPP

Host/主持人

Prof. Yijia Jing, Fudan IGPP

Discussant

Prof. Ping Zhang, Fudan SIRPA

Prof. Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira, FGV

Time

12:00-13:20, April 21st, Tuesday, 2026

Venue

Room 805E, 8th Floor, West Sub-building of Guanghua Towers

https://v.wjx.cn/vm/Qsn1EtF.aspx#

 The Speaker：

Prof. Mark Robbins

Mark Robbins is Fudan Chair Professor at Fudan University’s Institute of Global Public Policy, and Emeritus Professor in the School of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut, where he served as Department Head for many years. His research area is public budgeting and public finance. He has published dozens of articles on government debt, budgeting practices, and tax preferences. He has consulted with and advised government organizations on fiscal transparency, government accounting, and investment management. He has delivered invited talks at universities around the world including (10) in China where he maintains a keen interest.

Abstract:

This is the second in what has become a series of lectures seeking to facilitate understanding and discussion about the effects of the second Trump administration’s policies on the economies of its citizens and trading partners. In this lecture professor Robbins reviews tariffs as a (tax) policy tool and why they are relatively new in modern policy history, before turning to their anticipated effects. The current round of tariffs are relatively new but there is enough data to make good general estimates of their economic effects which, while presently small, fall clearly on consumers. Finally he looks at some of the survey data on support for the Trump tariffs and what we can expect following the US Supreme court decision in February 2026 invalidating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1973 (IEEPA) as a legal authority for tariff actions.