Is China a market economy? At first glance, given the pervasive — and, in fact, growing — role of the state in every aspect of Chinese industry and finance, the question seems inane. Of course it isn’t. [Alan Tonelson] May 2nd, 2017 [LifeZette] The Trump administration is expected to make this obvious truth the official policy of…
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday filed a cloture motion to proceed to the nomination of U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer. [Dan Dupont] May 9th, 2017 [Inside U.S. Trade] McConnell has been unable to move on Lighthizer via a unanimous consent request opposed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), as Inside U.S. Trade first reported on May…
Forget Machiavelli, or “Game of Thrones.” When it comes to staying in power, South Korea’s richest business clans have the game plan down. [Jonathan Soble, Jeyup S. Kwaak & ChoeSang-Hung] May 8th, 2017 [The New York Times] There is the charity maneuver, in which family members park their stakes in their business empires in philanthropic nonprofits,…
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is objecting to a unanimous consent request to proceed to the nomination of U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer, McCain told Inside U.S. Trade. [Jenny Leonard] May 9th, 2017 [Inside Trade] “I have questions that are outstanding and I’d like to have answers to those questions. That’s the way the senate works,”…
China is bent on world domination — not with its missiles and aircraft carriers, but by controlling solar energy, cloud computing and other industries of the future. [Fred Hiatt] May 7th, 2017 [The Washington Post] That is an only slightly exaggerated version of a warning coming from the American chamber of commerce in China. It…
The trade deficit with Mexico and Japan was found to be growing at an alarming rate following the release of March 2017 U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services monthly data by the Department of Commerce. [Office of Public Affairs] May 4th, 2017 [commerce.gov] The trade deficit increased by $363 million with Mexico and…
Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Saturday doubled down on the imposition of tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, saying they were not based on “political considerations” and that “threats of retaliatory action” are “inappropriate.” [REBECCA MORIN] May 6th, 2017 [Politico] “The Department of Commerce’s recent preliminary decision to impose tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber was…
Wage contracts are inked years before plants open and workers never get a say. At a ceremony at Mexico’s Los Pinos presidential residence in July 2014, BMW Chief Executive Officer Harald Krüger pledged to spend $1 billion to build a factory in the northern state of San Luis Potosí that will employ 1,500 workers. To…
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) likely will not allow the Senate to consider the nomination of U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer until the week of May 15 because of objections he is facing from his caucus to a request to move the nomination through unanimous consent, sources told Inside U.S. Trade. [Jenny Leonard] May…
A strong historic defense of American workers and domestic manufacturers aptly summarizes the first 100 days of the Trump Administration’s trade policy. [Peter Navarro] May 2nd, 2017 [CNN] On his first working day in office, President Trump terminated one of the worst trade deals ever proposed: the Trans-Pacific Partnership. TPP would have further eroded the…