It’s a sad but familiar story. A plant closes, and dozens or hundreds or thousands of decently paid factory workers lose their jobs. Unable to find work that compensates them nearly as well, they have little choice but to accept low-wage employment in retail or restaurants. [Alan Greenblatt | April 26, 2018 | Governing] What’s…
China unveiled its plan to dominate the world’s most crucial technologies with little international fanfare, another vague, guiding principle in the labyrinth of Communist Party bureaucracy. [Jessica Meyers | April 24, 2018 | LA Times] Three years later, it’s at the core of a trade dispute with Washington that threatens to upend the global economy.…
Prominent U.S. business lobbies are begging the Trump administration not to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, but some small manufacturers are pushing the other way: Trying to get more products on the proposed list. [Mark Niquette | April 24, 2018 | Bloomberg] Makers of steel wheels, safes and other products want the U.S. to impose…
The AFL-CIO has thrown its weight behind the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act and advised against changes to it. [Jack Caporal | April 24, 2018 | Inside US Trade] “The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) is a reasoned approach that balances the desire to maintain an open investment climate and our security…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director After opposing tariffs on imported solar cells and modules for years, and claiming the US manufacture of solar cells would never be profitable, San Jose, California-based SunPower Corporation announced last week plans…to become a leading US manufacturer of solar cells and modules. Last Wednesday, SunPower said it’s buying SolarWorld…
SHANGHAI — Want to avoid American tariffs? In China, a company called Settle Logistics says it knows a way. [Keith Bradsher | APRIL 22, 2018 | NY Times] Specifically, that way goes through Malaysia — a 4,600-mile diversion compared with sending a shipping container from China straight across the Pacific to the United States. But…
There are a lot of moving pieces in the trade situation between the U.S. and China. [April 20, 2018 | AG Web] Earlier this month, the U.S. and China announced tariffs on more than $100 billion on goods between the two countries. Lists of items on both lists continued to grow, and soybeans are one…
In recent years, U.S. manufacturers have been competing, and often losing, against government-owned Chinese companies intent on taking market share at any cost. Thankfully, President Donald Trump is fighting back with tariffs to protect domestic industries against China’s economic aggression. Op-ed originally appears on LifeZette In response to the president’s tariffs, naïve free trade pundits…
TOKYO—There’s a big reason why Japan doesn’t want to talk about a trade deal with Donald Trump: Its auto exports are booming. [Sean McLain | April 19, 2018 | WSJ] Japanese auto makers exported nearly 10% more cars to the U.S. in the first three months of this year compared with the same period a…
President Trump has made reducing the large US trade deficit a priority. However, he has delegated responsibility on this objective to officials who lack any useful tools to affect the trade balance. Meanwhile, the agency that has traditionally been responsible for trade imbalances—the Treasury Department—just issued another semiannual report(link is external) that bemoans the problem without giving…
