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In the News

February 22, 2026. Dawn Shackleford of Looking Glass Trade speaks with CNBC International on Squawk Box Asia to discuss the impact of the new tariffs for various countries as well as U.S. importers. She also discusses the legal basis of Trump’s claims of a deficit in U.S. balance-of-payments. https://www.cnbc.com/video/2026/02/23/can-president-trump-implement-his-new-15-percent-tariffs-fmr-ustr-discusses.html

February 21, 2026. Dawn Shackleford speaks with Pak Yiu at Nikkei Asia for this article on the Supreme Court’s decision striking down IEEPA tariffs. Dawn Shackleford, a former U.S. trade official for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said: “The ruling also provides an opportunity for the administration to dial down the temperature and work with some of its closest allies to better target the shared threats of economic coercion and overcapacity, in a manner more similar to what you are seeing happen on critical minerals.” https://asia.nikkei.com/economy/trade-war/trump-tariffs/us-supreme-court-rules-against-trump-s-global-tariffs

January 26, 2026. Dawn Shackleford speaks with Pak Yiu at Nikkei Asia for this article. Helpful deep dive on section 232 tariffs and how they affect key markets. Increasingly important to understand in the event IEEPA tariffs get struck down.
https://asia.nikkei.com/economy/trade-war/trump-tariffs/trump-national-security-tariffs-threaten-621bn-in-trade-with-asia

December 16, 2025. Dawn Shackleford speaks with Pak Yiu at Nikkei Asia about rules of origin and the new US trade agreements in Southeast Asia. There are some helpful charts in the article on trade flows between Southeast Asia, China, and the US.
“But there has been little clarity from the White House on how it will determine where a product was manufactured, said Dawn Shackleford, a former U.S. trade representative official for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. “There is a need to develop a rules of origin [scheme] that is more broad-based for the region and that isn’t finalized yet,” she said.

August 1, 2025. Dawn Shackleford speaks with NOTUS about current trade events:
For countries that have reached deals, significant issues remain unresolved. Dawn Shackleford, who has worked in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of Commerce, pointed out that the agreements all lack enforcement measures, a standard component of such deals.
“What is making these agreements binding?” she said. “Traders can’t rely on a PDF of a letter they need; they need, you know, something with some type of legal certainty to make it binding for them to be able to properly comply.”
Shackleford, who advises domestic importers, has also been fielding concerns about how the tariffs will be implemented by Customs and Border Protection, due to the number of different tariffs that apply to some items.

Articles Published

“Trump asserts trade payments problems. The IMF may want to sharpen its pencils.” by Dawn Shackleford, Hinrich Foundation, February 24, 2026 The Trump administration’s use of Section 122 to get around the Supreme Court ruling against IEEPA hinges on whether there’s a “large and serious” balance of payments deficit problem in the US, but it’s not a “self-judging” matter. Whenever a country restricts imports due to an international payments problem, the IMF steps in to review the case — with the WTO. https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/trade-governance/trump-asserts-trade-payments-problems

“MFN – Not Dead Yet!” by Dawn Shackleford, *Hinrich Foundation,* December 16, 2025
The US breach of the most-favored-nation principle when it imposed global “reciprocal tariffs” gave rise to the interpretation that MFN treatment and the rules-based order were as good as gone. But MFN remains prevalent in the conduct of cross-border trade in the rest of the world and is likely to remain so. While it does need rescue, MFN is not quite as dead as Monty Python’s Norwegian blue parrot. https://www.hinrichfoundation.com/research/article/wto/mfn-not-dead-yet

Podcasts

WITA WTO Matters: Whither MFN – Its Relevance in a Rapidly Changing World: Dawn Shackleford and other panelists discuss the relevance of the WTO’s core principle of Most Favored Nation (MFN). While MFN remains essential for most of world trade, its critics, including the U.S., question its relevance. Panelists discussed the impact on MFN of the Trump tariffs; the negotiation of trade deals that do not apply broadly; the U.S. reform proposal rejecting a one-size-fits-all approach; and the EU reform proposal noting the need for dynamic adjustment of rights and commitments given lack of reciprocal liberalization.

WITA’s Friday Exchange Podcast, “the Long and Winding Road to a Trade Deal with India”, February 6, 2026 former trade negotiators, including Dawn Shackleford, unpack the U.S.-India bilateral trade deal, following right on the heels of the EU’s trade deal with India.

WTO Matters: The WTO in Today’s Global Economy and a Path Forward, December 16, 2025
Dawn Shackleford moderates a high-level discussion on the state of the multilateral trading system, the role of the WTO in today’s global economy, and key issues Members are considering as they look towards the future of the global trading system.

U.S.–India Strategic Partnership Forum and Women in International Trade November 18, 2025.
High-level discussion, featuring Dawn Shackleford and other trade experts, on the outcomes of President Trump’s recent trip across Asia, looking at the trade landscape across Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea, China, and Japan.Https://usispf.zoom.us/rec/share/QK9u2s3yLde6c0saD_Z16HGixFSAjbBxU7H4A5sO3oNMLN26Ew42peifxqCSqjDP.ttkNwktg6_YeYG5p Use code: 0E7j^G1A

WITA’s Friday Exchange Podcast: Bad Ad Vibes and Trade Wars, October 31, 2025.
This episode of WITA’s Friday Exchange, trade experts, including Dawn Shackleford, unpack the trade impacts of the Trump–Xi meeting; break down what we know about trade talks with Japan and Korea; deals with Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, and other bilateral developments from Trump’s Asia tour.

WITA’s Friday Exchange Podcast: Bad Ad Vibes and Trade Wars, October 24, 2025.
On this episode of WITA’s Friday Exchange, trade experts, including Dawn Shackleford, discuss President Trump’s pique over anti-tariff ads and President Reagan’s legacy, the new U.S.–Australia agreement on critical minerals, and the prospect for trade deals between the U.S. and its Asian trading partners, including an expected meeting between President Trump and President Xi.

WITA’s Friday Exchange Podcast: Intractable or Inevitable – Reaching a Trade Deal with India, October 3, 2025.
In this episode of WITA’s Friday Exchange, former trade negotiators, including Dawn Shackleford, turn their focus towards the world’s most populous country, India, where trade frictions have defined the relationship for generations. Panelists discuss the geopolitical complexities of trade with India, tariff and non-tariff barriers, and key issues such as agriculture and digital trade.

WITA’s Friday Exchange: Beyond Tariffs and Multilateral Treaties. September 11, 2025.
On this week’s episode, former U.S. and global trade negotiators, including Dawn Shackleford, discuss the WTO and multilateralism, as U.S. trade policy shifts towards bilateral trade deals and countries seek to make the WTO fit for purpose in a changing trade landscape.

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