For reporters looking for experts to offer insight on tariffs, please see comments from Syracuse University faculty who are available to speak with media. To arrange interviews, contact Ellen James Mbuqe, executive director of media relations, ejmbuq@syr.edu.

Tariffs and the Auto Industry

is Dean of the College of Law at Syracuse University and began his career in the Office of the General Counsel at Ford Motor Company in the International Trade and Transactions practice group. His practice focused on ��U.S. law for foreign affiliates and subsidiaries, among other topics. Later he served as Ford’s Director for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Government Affairs.

• “The global automotive industry works best in free markets, free of market distortions such as tariff and non-tariff barriers. Free markets have led to greater consumer choice and lower prices. The industry requires long lead times to adjust to changes in tariff policy. An immediate 25% tariff on automotive parts and finished vehicles from Canada and Mexico will introduce a great deal of uncertainty into the supply chain, and ultimately will lead to higher vehicle prices until the market can adjust,” said Lau.

History of Tariffs

, professor of history in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, is the author of��. The book gives a history lesson of the tariffs used by American governments from the 18^th century until early 20^th century. Early in American history, Congress instituted high tariffs on most imports due to distrust of foreign goods.��But due to demand for things like silk, tobacco, and sugar, a brisk illicit traffic developed to maneuver around those laws. Cohen said:��

• “The US has long used tariffs to collect revenue, aid manufacturing, and exert power.�� But I can’t think of a trade war initiated so randomly in a time of peace and prosperity” said Cohen.
• “Early 20^th Americans replaced tariffs with income taxes because the former generated insufficient revenue to pay for a modern military,” said Cohen. “Reformers also viewed the tariff as a source of corruption, as businesses bribed Congressmen to support taxes giving them monopolies.��Tariffs led to widespread smuggling, which even an extensive network of customhouses could not staunch. Writing a tariff bill became so complicated that Congress gave the president wide discretion to negotiate rates.�� Now, we’re seeing the consequences, as one man can start a trade war.”

��Economic Impact and Tariffs

, assistant professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, is an expert in international trade, tariffs, and supply chains. He’s been interviewed by several news outlets about tariffs including a recent interview with Newsweek, “.”

From the article:

• “Ryan Monarch, a professor of economics at Syracuse University, told��Newsweek��prices will be driven up not only by the tariffs themselves, but also the increased costs with complying with customs rules.
• There will be added costs both from sellers, who will need to prepare paperwork and calculate the value of each package as well as U.S. customs workers who will be tasked with enforcing the new policy, he said.
• ‘Part of the reason the exemption exists in the first place is that it didn’t seem worth it to try to do all of the work to examine all of these packages and imported things that are of such low value,’ he said.
• In total, a 25 to 30 percent price increase would not be ‘outlandlish,’ Monarch said. It’s difficult to predict the full impact, but companies are unlikely to eat the costs of these fees, he added.
• ‘We should expect that those prices are going to go directly onto American buyers. Research has shown that Chinese suppliers pass on those prices completely.’”

Tariffs and the Supply Chain

is a Professor of Practice – Supply Chain Management and Director of Executive Education at the Whitman School of Management. He is a scholar when it comes to providing insight about how economic policies will impact the national and global supply chains. He’s been interviewed by many outlets on tariffs specifically, including Buffalo’s and the .

Here’s what he’s highlighted:

• The tariff on Chinese goods could impact almost every U.S. industry according to supply chain expert Patrick Penfield.
• “We import a lot of base ingredients from China that’s used in various industries. So you’re talking pharmaceutical, the toy industry, electronics. So almost every industry in the United States would be impacted.”

US-Mexico Relations

, associate professor of history at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, is an expert on Mexico and United States relations. She can discuss trade and tariffs between the US and Mexico, immigration, security and fentanyl.

McCormick, who is the Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations at Syracuse University, was interviewed by Insight Crime for the article “.”

• “Tariffs will hurt the Mexican economy, which will further weaken the Mexican system and the rule of law, and that’s going to make Mexico much more vulnerable to further incursions from organized crime,” McCormick told InSight Crime.
• “I don’t see any real concerted, long-term improvements that would come out of this to tackle issues of security and organized crime in Mexico,” McCormick told InSight Crime.

Audra Weiss ’89 played a pivotal role in building the global health innovation company Real Chemistry. She gave back to Syracuse University as a benefactor for initiatives and projects that equipped communications students with the digital skills and expertise needed to s쳮d in the workplace.

When Weiss was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, she became a passionate advocate for early cancer detection and diagnosis, and holistic care. Weiss died Dec. 31, 2024, at the age of 57. Her husband Jim Weiss ’87 and their two children, Ethan and Emily, were at her side. “Audra was a quiet yet powerful force who walked through life exuding grace, strength and class,” .

Audra Weiss graduated from the , while her husband graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public relations from the . Jim Weiss founded Real Chemistry in 2001.

In 2012, a gift from Audra and Jim Weiss established the at the Newhouse School. The Weiss Center’s goal is to ensure students are immersed and educated in the digital world as they prepare for careers across the communications industries.

Nine years later, the Weisses for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a new, state-of-the-art classroom established by a gift from Real Chemistry. The Emerging Insights Lab is a social media command center that serves as a central hub for the interfacing of digital media monitored and studied by students and faculty.

“Audra Weiss’ support meant so much to Syracuse University. She will always be remembered at Newhouse for her dedication to helping our students s쳮d, collaborating with Jim on mentorships, career advice, classroom visits or the many other ways they gave back big and small,” said Newhouse Dean Mark Lodato. “We mourn her passing and extend our deepest condolences to Jim, Ethan, Emily and the rest of the Weiss family.”

Born and raised on Long Island in Coram, New York, Audra Weiss worked in healthcare communications after graduating from Whitman. She connected with Jim through a mutual friend—they worked in the same field and shared a love for Syracuse University, though they never met while at school. They were married for nearly 25 years.

“She knew from the get-go that she’d happily trade in her stellar professional career for a lifelong role of motherhood.  She welcomed Ethan and Emily into the world and devoted herself to her calling,” her family said.

“Audra’s intellect and brilliance shined in the backdrop of Jim’s entrepreneurial quest to build a leading global communications firm,” the family said.  “As an advisor and confidant, Audra made her mark on the business that would become Real Chemistry. To her, success was a vehicle to do good—giving back through the ‘Weiss Family Office.’”

After being diagnosed with cancer, Weiss became a staunch advocate for the care of those living with cancer. She shared her wisdom about her cancer journey and connected with the Dempsey Center, joining the board of the organization founded by actor Patrick Dempsey. The Dempsey Center provides personalized and comprehensive cancer care at no cost.

The Weiss family said it would continue to advocate for early cancer detection and diagnosis, as well as advocating for treating cancer “holistically, not just with pharmaceuticals but with wraparound care that makes the journey a much better experience for patients and their families.”

Services will be held Jan. 8 in San Francisco, California. The family said donations in Weiss’ memory can be made to the , , and the . Read Audra Weiss’ .

Courtney Mauldin infuses her scholarly research with a clear purpose: to give Black girls innovative opportunities to dream big and envision futures filled with possibilities. Her involvement with the is critical to success: “We see the humanities as something that allows for dreaming, and we are creating space for girls to dream through art and literature,” says Mauldin, assistant professor of educational leadership in the teaching and leadership department in the School of Education. She co-leads the Working Group, one of dozens of in the corridor.

This fall, the corridor marks 15 years in existence and its fifth year into the endowment that provides humanities research support in perpetuity, thanks to an award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Though the administrative home of the corridor is at the��, the corridor is a consortium of 11 institutions connecting faculty, academic staff, students and members of the wider community across disciplinary, geographic and institutional boundaries.

“The corridor has truly become a regional consortium with global reach,” says Vivian M. May, director of the Humanities Center and the corridor, and professor of women’s and gender studies. “Thanks to our support this past year, working groups engaged with over 3,800 individuals and collaborated with over 260 institutions and organizations across at least 37 states and 23 countries around the world.”

With funding from the corridor, Mauldin has been able to bring together educators and others who aspire to mentor Black girls to explore ways to give them more voice. As part of their research (the working group is now in its third funding cycle), Mauldin and her co-lead Misha Inniss-Thompson, assistant professor in the department of psychology at Cornell University, discovered that the adult educators first needed to explore their own beliefs, backgrounds and judgments and “discover the Black girl in all of us and unlearn some of what we had learned as girls” to more effectively mentor and inspire the next generation.

“In a world where we are constantly bombarded with messages of who we ought to be (or not), in the working group we’ve cultivated a space that truly begins to embody what it means to express our thoughts freely, make space for our healing and co-construct spaces where current generations of Black girls can have a space to be in intentional community with one another,” says Inniss-Thompson.

Now, each event sponsored by Mauldin’s working group has an intergenerational element. “The corridor has given us an opportunity to do the kind of applied research that doesn’t fit into a box,” says Mauldin. “We go in with one idea and discover something new, always thinking about impact.” At an at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, New York, the art of Nydia Blas will be used as a springboard for participants to��consider the role of family, history and home in shaping understanding of Black girlhoods.

“The corridor brings to life our commitment as stated in the Academic Strategic Plan to support and encourage research focused on the community good and fosters empathy and civic engagement through the arts and humanities,” says Associate Provost for Strategic Initiatives Marcelle Haddix. “Together with our academic colleagues across Central New York, we grapple with critical questions and address issues that have the potential to transform society in positive ways.”

The collaboration of researchers across disciplines and backgrounds is key to the corridor’s success in sparking new ways of thinking and ensuring that the humanities remain relevant as an area of study. “Many of us who were trained in the humanities didn’t really have to make a case for ourselves. It was a given that the humanities were important. It never occurred to me to wonder what I was going to do with the work,” says Lois Agnew, associate provost for academic programs and professor of writing and rhetoric. “The world has changed and students are pressing for answers on how to make the humanities more relevant and how they can make a difference in the world.”

Agnew, along with Stacey Langwick, associate professor of anthropology at Cornell, and Andrew London, professor of sociology at Syracuse, co-leads a working group on . “Health humanities is a broad discipline that provides a vehicle for acknowledging the complex factors that shape people’s experiences with health,” says Agnew. “For example, we know that illness is something everyone experiences. But we don’t always think about the structural inequalities that affect people’s access to medical treatments and the quality of care they receive. We are looking at the complex ways in which there are barriers that might not be obvious, as well as the sociocultural influences that shape people’s assumptions about health, medicine, disease and disability.”

An sponsored by Agnew’s working group is designed to move attendees beyond those assumptions by challenging them to consider how they define “healthy food” in the context of food deserts. Keynoter Hanna Garth, assistant professor of anthropology at Princeton University “illuminates how the concept of ‘healthy food’ is loaded with assumptions about the ways different racialized populations eat, and operates a racial signifier indexing whiteness and in opposition to Black and Latine ways of eating.”

“All of us in academia will likely take some of the questions she introduces back to our students and that should help them understand the world a little better, specifically how structural inequality in the world is interfering with people’s ability to live and flourish,” says Agnew.

Other corridor activities have included an early modern philosophy conference; a skills-building archival research workshop; writing workshops for military veterans; a colloquium on ethics and data science; a public lecture and youth workshop on grassroots organizing; Indigenous performance and art; a micro-theater festival; career workshops for doctoral students; the formation of a new public policy humanities network; several book circles and writing workshops to provide mentoring and advance research outcomes across all career stages.

“To my knowledge, there is no other program of its kind nationally, which is fiscally supported by a combined endowment physically located at three universities,” says Gregg Lambert, founding director of the corridor. He credits Chancellor Kent Syverud for providing the commitment and support that resulted in $3.65 million matching endowment grant from the Mellon Foundation, enabling the corridor to establish centers at Syracuse, and the University of Rochester, and include other institutions in the collaborative to form a whole that is truly more powerful than its parts (including Colgate University, Hamilton College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Skidmore College, St. Lawrence University, Union College, Le Moyne College and the Rochester Institute of Technology).

“What is truly unique is a funding model that fosters interdisciplinary research that is organic and evolutionary,” says Lambert. “Through this faculty-driven collaborative model, the working groups have flexibility in developing and adapting their research in response to discoveries and innovations that broaden the creative process and impact.”

“In addition to advancing our mission to provide research support, build bridges and cultivate scholarly community for faculty, students and academic staff across our region, working group collaborations lead to diverse outcomes,” says May. “The ripple effects of our funding include publications, cross-institutional learning communities and teaching collaborations, external grants and fellowships, archive-building, newly commissioned musical scores, and more.”

“Central New York is fortunate to have such a thriving and engaged humanities community, and the consortium’s co-directors and I are proud to support the wide-ranging needs and interests of the region’s scholars, artists, performers and activists,” says May. “Such heterogeneity, evocative of a vibrant quilt of different fabrics, textures and colors, is key to our vitality as a research consortium that advances cutting-edge research and brings the humanities to bear on a range of local and global concerns.”