This article was originally published in IAM on April 24th, 2025
By Kirti Gupta
Economic statecraft has reached new levels with the United States levying the steepest increase in tariffs on foreign goods in the last 150 years. While the focus of these tariffs in popular media is consumer goods, we all live in the knowledge economy.
A few decades ago, 80% of the market value of S&P 500 firms was explained by their labour and capital assets. Today, that has reversed: 80% of their market value is explained by intangible assets – ideas, know-how, and intellectual property (IP).
What is the impact of the impact of these tariffs on IP? Some economists have been analyzing this question lately. The brief answer is that IP licensing revenues of US companies are likely to decrease, and IP enforcement abroad is likely to weaken, unless specific action is taken to counteract these effects proactively.
