Chad Bown

Chad Bown is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and a former chief economist at the US State Department. He is newsworthy due to his analysis of the impact of former President Donald Trump's trade policies, particularly tariffs, on US-China trade and the overall US trade deficit. Recent publications by Bown analyze trade data from 2025, revealing that the US-China trade relationship would have been significantly different without the tariffs. His research indicates that China would have imported substantially more goods from the US. Despite the tariffs, the US trade deficit in goods reached a record high in 2025, highlighting the complex and often unintended consequences of trade policy. Bown's expertise and analysis are relevant for understanding the long-term effects of trade wars and the challenges of managing international trade relationships.