Trump just signed an executive order beginning the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Good riddance. I’ve been fighting this for a long time. As I noted five years ago, when this thing was just beginning, the omens were never good, and Obama should have known better. After the failed promises of NAFTA,…
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI.) spoke recently in support of free trade agreements (FTAs) at a Pennsylvania town hall meeting Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI.) spoke recently in support of free trade agreements (FTAs) at a Pennsylvania town hall meeting broadcast on television (and now available on YouTube here). The Speaker was asked by Coalition for a…
Treasury secretary nominee Steven Mnuchin was questioned more than once on his trade policies during his confirmation hearing, as senators asked for his thoughts on Trump’s tariff threats, currency manipulation and the TPP. China currency: Mnuchin will be in charge of carrying out Trump’s orders to label China or any other country a currency manipulator. In…
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman is punting the decision to extend duty-free, quota-free preferences for exports of travel goods to the U.S. for all Generalized System of Preferences beneficiaries to the incoming Trump administration, according to multiple sources. [Daily News| January 18, 2017 |Inside US Trade] Sources said that Froman will also issue a non-public…
President-elect Trump’s pick for Commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, said on Wednesday that he wants to overhaul how the U.S. negotiates free trade agreements, urging a “systematic re-examination” process that would assess where a deal falls short and listing reciprocity and simultaneity of concessions as two of the principles he wants to include in his model.…
Billionaire Wilbur Ross, nominated by Donald Trump to serve as Commerce secretary, called China the most protectionist of the world’s major economies and vowed to level the playing field with the Chinese on trade, especially in reducing overcapacity in its steel industry. [Andrew Mayeda| January 19, 2017 |NED] “China is the most protectionist country of…
President-elect Trump’s pick for Commerce secretary kept China’s trade policies in his cross-hairs throughout his questioning in front of the Senate Commerce Committee on Jan. 18, managing to remain critical of Beijing while calming the fears of some senators that the Trump administration will follow through on threats and impose a high tariff on Chinese…
by Michael Stumo The Davos crowd continues to hear speeches reinforcing attendees’ twisted globalist vision. The protectionist president of China, Xi Jinping, is freaking out about Trump’s intentions to neutralize their WTO lawbreaking. He gave a Davos speech this week saying: “Pursuing protectionism is just like locking oneself in a dark room,” the Chinese president…
President-elect Donald Trump and the tech industry may have more in common than they realized. [Eugene Kim| January 9, 2017 |Business Insider] Though Trump was almost universally unpopular in Silicon Valley during the campaign, a new proposal from a group of high-profile tech leaders doesn’t sound so different from some of Trump’s protectionist language on trade.…
The new House Ways & Means ranking member, Richard Neal (D-MA), is urging the incoming Trump administration to resume Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks with the European Union — adding that he asked President Obama two years ago to prioritize those negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership — and warned that a border adjustment provision…
