Donald Trump this year single-handedly overturned years of free-trade orthodoxy among Republican political leaders — which is making his choice of a running mate a bit awkward. [William Maulding| July 15, 2016 |Wall Street Journal] Mr. Trump said Friday on Twitter his vice presidential pick is Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana. Mr. Pence, like many…
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was the only speaker on the first night of the Republican Party convention to devote significant time to trade issues, striking a familiar chord in opposing what he calls “Obamatrade” and lamenting trade deficits with China and Korea. [Daily News| July 19, 2016 |Inside US Trade] Sessions – whose trade stances…
The Commerce Department approved wide-ranging final duties on hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cold-rolled steel products from Brazil, India, Korea, Russia and the United Kingdom to offset unfairly low pricing and government subsidies. [Doug Palmer| July 22, 2016 |Politico] The department late Thursday set anti-dumping duties ranging from 10 percent to 32 percent on Brazil, about 8…
The European Commission is exploring a new methodology for handling antidumping and subsidy cases in a move meant to ensure China does not gain market economy status, but fears have quickly surfaced that the Commission’s pending proposal may drop the European Union’s market economy criteria. [Daily News| July 20, 2016 |Inside US Trade] European Trade…
China is obviously not a market economy, European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström told reporters on Tuesday, but that does not matter for a decision countries have to make this year about how they calculate anti-dumping duties on Chinese goods. [Adam Behsudi| July 20, 2016 |Politico] “The issue of China’s market economy status is not really…
by Michael Stumo Paul Ryan and Barack Obama have been pushing the Trans-Pacific Partnership as a trade agreement. We know from past experience these deals promote other countries’ market access to US consumers more than they promote exports. But the TPP is more about global governance and sovereignty than trade. President Obama spoke at Nike…
Despite the absurdity of many aspects of the Republican Party platform, there is still one issue where Hillary Clinton and the Democrats are highly vulnerable. [Christopher C. Currie| July 18, 2016 |Providence Journal] Despite the absurdity of many aspects of the Republican Party platform, there is still one issue where Hillary Clinton and the Democrats…
Major trade deals should not be voted on during lame-duck sessions of Congress, the Republican Party’s official platform states. [Daily News| July 18, 2016 |Inside US Trade] The platform – introduced today at the party convention in Cleveland – doesn’t name the Trans-Pacific Partnership or take a stance on it, but it does come out against a…
Unions plan to use the summer congressional recess to hold congressional incumbents and candidates accountable for their stances on a possible lame-duck Trans-Pacific Partnership vote, according to AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. [Daily News| July 15, 2016 |Inside US Trade] “Every candidate [running for a seat in Congress] will be asked and we will demand an…
A thought experiment considers a hypothesis for the purpose of thinking through its consequences. So to better understand “free trade” as we currently practice it, let’s postulate evacuating one of our states and populating it with millions of imported workers. With apologies to the Show Me state, let’s go to the heartland and pick Missouri…
