Dr Mona Paulsen will be convening two sessions at the WTO Public Forum 2025, sponsored by LSE. In the first, Ask the Experts: Tariffs Edition, the panel of leading experts in their field will consider why governments impose tariffs and what changes at the border when tariffs are threatened, imposed or lifted, and how actors respond effectively to the uncertainty. The session will provide a multi-faceted assessment of the political economy of tariffs, their legal basis, and the customs implications for government and business alike. In the second, Ask the Experts: Semiconductors and Critical Materials Edition, experts at the cutting edge of technology and innovation governance will present and evaluate ideas on multilateral trade cooperation in a rapidly changing, geographically complex world. As governments around the world craft policies to encourage innovation, secure natural resources and critical materials, and pursue technological leadership in semiconductors and other 21st-century industries, they are testing the limits of existing norms and frameworks for cooperation. This panel will step back with top experts on the front lines of innovation policy and consider what role trade governance, multilateralism and international cooperation could play in these critical spaces.