KOLWEZI, Democratic Republic of Congo—Miners push bicycles piled high with bags of a grayish-blue ore along a dusty road to a makeshift market. There, they line up at wholesalers with nicknames such as Crazy Jack and Boss Lee. [Scott Patterson and Russell Gold | February 11, 2018 | WSJ] Most of the buyers are Chinese.…
President Trump on Monday promised the U.S. would soon institute a “reciprocal tax” against countries that take advantage of the U.S. [February 12, 2018 | Inside US Trade] At a White House meeting with governors and business executives to discuss his infrastructure plans, Trump diverted to trade to say “we are going to charge countries, outside of…
An ironic aspect of the #MeToo movement is the revelation that mandatory arbitration clauses in women’s employment contracts have sometimes helped to keep sexual harassment claims secret. But in our daily lives, we all “agree” to similar mandatory arbitration clauses when downloading software, for example, or accepting a new credit card. This op-ed first appeared…
Senate Finance Committee Republicans held what several termed a “constructive” meeting with President Trump on Wednesday, focusing on trade policy and NAFTA in particular and pleasing the panel chairman, Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who emerged saying he now liked the president’s trade approach. [Jenny Leonard and Dan Dupont |February 7, 2018 | Inside US Trade] Hatch, who has not…
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the annual U.S. trade deficit in goods and services increased from $504.8 billion to $566.1 billion from 2016 to 2017, an increase of $61.2 billion (12.1 percent). The rapid growth of the overall U.S. trade deficit reflects the failure of Trump administration trade policies to materially affect trade flows in…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director The US trade deficit last year surged 12.1%, rising at three times the rate of nominal GDP growth, hampering US economic performance, employment levels, and incomes. The Department of Commerce reported this morning that the US trade deficit in goods and services came in at $566.0 billion, an increase…
by Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA The big news this week is that the annual US trade deficit increased in 2017 by 12% over 2016. Here are five reasons you should care. 1. Your stock market gains could be at risk – The economy that really matters—the jobs and industries that support middle class families across the…
American schools that coordinate with the Chinese Ministry of Education should end their agreements because they are trying to teach a warped version of history that benefits the government, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., warned Monday. [Joel Gehrke | February 5, 2018 | Washington Examiner] Rubio asked several schools in his state to shutter the Confucius…
Canada is “willing to walk away from NAFTA if the United States offers a bad deal,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday. [February 2, 2018 | Inside US Trade] At a town hall meeting in British Columbia, Trudeau was asked about the state of the NAFTA talks and reiterated that Canada was “not going to take…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director It may have been obscured by the looming State of the Union address, but there was quite a kerfuffle in Washington recently. Clinton-era Treasury Secretary Larry Summers went semi-ballistic over comments made by his successor, Steven Mnunchin. During the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin made…
