The Big 3 with CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg breaks down the three biggest stories shaping U.S. trade, industrial policy, and the American economy each week.
From tariffs, China, and supply chains to inflation, manufacturing, and economic security, Mihir and Andrew cut through the noise with sharp analysis to explain what’s really happening—and who it benefits. Focused on what matters for American workers and producers, The Big 3 connects the headlines to the deeper forces reshaping the U.S. economy—and what that means for the future of U.S. competitiveness.
A few weeks ago, Washington was on the verge of a trade deal with Canada that would have cut tariffs on Canadian aluminum from 50% to 25% — including the fabricated aluminum products that compete directly with American manufacturers. That deal collapsed. Now, the administration has moved in the opposite direction. On this week’s episode of The Big 3, CPA economists Andrew Rechenberg and Mihir Torsekar break down why the proposed Canada deal threatened American aluminum fabricators, where th...
21 Aug 2026
Securing America's Polysilicon Supply Chain
For more than a decade, U.S. solar trade policy has focused on individual products and country-by-country enforcement. This week’s episode examines why the Trump administration’s new Section 232 action on polysilicon represents a fundamentally different approach. Guest Tom Beline of Cassidy Levy Kent explains how the new framework combines national security tariffs with minimum import prices across the entire solar supply chain—from raw polysilicon to finished modules. Unlike previous trade ...
31 Jul 2026
The Biotech Race — How China is Winning & What Congress Must Do Now
This week on The Big 3, Mihir Torsekar is joined by Caitlin Frazer, Executive Director of the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology, to discuss one of the most important—and least understood—strategic competitions facing the United States. The conversation begins by explaining why biotechnology is no longer just a healthcare issue. While most Americans associate biotech with new medicines and cancer treatments, biotechnology is rapidly becoming a foundational technology with...
24 Jul 2026
The Big 3: How Apple Built China's Manufacturing Empire
Apple’s decision to move manufacturing to China transformed not only the company, but the global economy. This week’s episode of The Big 3 with CPA senior economist Mihir Torsekar features bestselling author Patrick McGee, whose book Apple in China documents how Apple’s search for manufacturing efficiency helped create one of the world’s most sophisticated industrial ecosystems. Beginning in the late 1990s, Apple outsourced production, eventually concentrating nearly its entire manufacturing...
10 Jul 2026
The Beef Crisis: Why Imports Aren't Lowering Prices
Americans are paying more for beef than ever before, but the reasons extend far beyond temporary inflation or seasonal shortages. According to Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, today’s record prices are the culmination of more than forty years of policy decisions that steadily weakened America’s cattle industry. This week on The Big 3 with senior economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg, the discussion begins with the historic decline in the U.S. cattle herd, now the smallest in roughl...
26 Jun 2026
China’s Massive Port Network – Why the U.S. Should Be Concerned
China’s growing influence in Latin America extends well beyond trade. According to CSIS Associate Fellow Henry Ziemer, Beijing has spent years building an interconnected maritime network that includes ports, shipping companies, cranes, cargo scanners, logistics software, rail corridors, and supporting infrastructure throughout the Western Hemisphere. Rather than viewing these investments individually, Ziemer argues they should be understood as parts of a coordinated system that provides Chin...
12 Jun 2026
China's Metal Empire and the Fight for Industrial Power
This week on The Big 3, CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg sit down with Ben Carlson of SAFE’s Center for Strategic Industrial Materials to examine China’s growing dominance in steel, aluminum, and copper—and what it means for America’s industrial future. The conversation centers on SAFE’s new report, "Strategic Surpluses: China’s Economic Warfare on Major Metals," which argues that China’s vast production capacity is not simply the result of market forces or planning mistak...
15 May 2026
The Chinese "Electrostate" Behind EVs, Batteries, and Solar
This week’s episode of The Big 3 features special guest Rogan Quinn of Rhodium Group, author of Minerals, Metals and Megawatts: How China’s Power Generation Drives Its Industrial Metals Ecosystem. Quinn joins CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg to explain how China became what he calls an “electrostate” — an industrial power whose dominance in electricity generation, metals processing, and manufacturing mutually reinforce one another. The conversation breaks down how Ch...
8 May 2026
Coalition for New Trade's Beth Baltzan Discusses Rebuilding American Resilience
This week’s episode of The Big 3 welcomes Beth Baltzan, former senior advisor to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai during the Biden Administration and now deputy director of the Coalition for New Trade, for a wide-ranging discussion on how the global trading system broke — and what should replace it. Baltzan argues that the postwar system originally recognized the danger of unchecked capital mobility and sought to empower workers, but that framework unraveled as floating exchange rates,...
1 May 2026
New CPA Economics Report Warns of Foreign Control Over U.S. Antibiotic Supply
This week’s episode of The Big 3 focused on CPA’s new report on the foreign control of America’s antibiotic supply chain and the collapse of the domestic production base that once supported it. CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg traced the story back to an East Syracuse, New York facility that once produced 70% of America’s penicillin supply, but now produces nothing, symbolizing how the U.S. lost control of a critical industry. The discussion highlighted how China now suppl...
24 Apr 2026
The Tariff Debate — Affordability, Jobs, & the Case for Domestic Production
This week’s episode of The Big 3 used CPA senior economist Mihir Torsekar’s recent Ohio State debate on whether tariffs are “just” as a springboard to examine three core arguments in the trade debate: affordability, employment, and production. First, Mihir and Andrew argued that the cost-of-living crisis is being misdiagnosed. While tariffs are often blamed for inflation, they noted that the biggest drivers of household strain are non-tradable essentials like shelter, healthcare, and energy,...
17 Apr 2026
Overcapacity, Forced Labor, and China's PNTR Reckoning
This week’s episode of The Big 3 with CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg centered on three major trade investigations that go to the heart of CPA’s industrial policy agenda: global overcapacity, forced labor, and revoking China’s permanent normal trade relations status. First, the crew examined the Section 301 overcapacity investigation, arguing that China remains the central driver of global industrial excess, but that countries such as Vietnam, India, Mexico, and Egypt als...
10 Apr 2026
Metals, Medicine, and "Liberation Day" One Year Later
On this week’s episode of The Big 3, CPA economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg focused on a new metals proclamation, a pharmaceutical proclamation, and the one-year anniversary of President Trump's Liberation Day tariffs. The team explain why the new metals action is so significant: steel, aluminum, and copper tariffs will now apply to the full customs value of imported products rather than just the declared value of their metal content, a change aimed at stopping chronic undervalua...
27 Mar 2026
Wartime Footing: How the United States Can Reverse China's Dominance of Battery Minerals Processing
THIS WEEK'S EPISODE OF "THE BIG 3" focused on the national security risks of America’s dependence on China for critical minerals processing, especially in the lead-acid battery supply chain. CPA senior economists Mihir Torsekar and Andrew Rechenberg were joined by retired Major General Bill Crane and retired Rear Admiral Peter Brown to discuss CPA’s new report with the Responsible Battery Coalition on how the United States can reverse China’s dominance in minerals processing. The conversati...
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Contact The Big 3
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of The Big 3?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
