Yesterday, NPR’s Chris Arnold wrote the latest in what has become a very long line of “explainer” pieces about economic globalization and the presidential campaigns. Nearly all of these pieces seek to resolve an alleged puzzle: nearly all reputable economists argue that policy efforts to boost trade are good for the U.S. economy, yet many (if not…
Government officials from major steel-producing countries failed to reach an agreement at their April 18 high-level meeting in Brussels on a politically binding joint communique laying out the policy steps they would take to address the global overcapacity situation, with U.S. officials and another informed source blaming China and other unnamed countries as the main…
As the White House prepares to submit the Trans-Pacific Partnership to Congress in the coming months, it has been touting its record on trade enforcement to persuade lawmakers to vote for the 12-nation pact. The United Steelworkers union on Monday upped the ante on that front by asking President Barack Obama to impose a 50…
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman on Monday (April 18) said that the Obama administration must do everything in its power to remedy global overcapacity of aluminum and steel, but stopped short of saying he would advise the president to implement a global safeguard on aluminum if the International Trade Commission finds that imports are causing…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEApril 18, 2016 Contact: Paola Masman, Media Director 202-688-5145 ext 2, [email protected] CPA Members Made a Big Difference in Congress Last Week Washington ~ Members of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) fanned out across Capitol Hill last week to support a national goal of balanced trade and smart tax reform while…
I’ve been fighting free trade since 2008. For most of that time, while much of the public has been sympathetic, it’s been an uphill battle with Congress. I used to lobby on Capitol Hill, and I frequently got no better than bored politeness from Congressional offices. [Ian Fletcher| April 18, 2016 |Huffington Post] So I’m…
The Boston Globe is reporting that U.S.-based shoe manufacturer New Balance has come out hard against the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal. The odd thing, though, is that “the Boston company had gone quiet [on TPP] last year.” Now, apparently, we know why: [Jim Swift| April 13, 2016 |The Weekly Standard] New Balance officials say one big…
The debate over signing the awful Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade agreement is hamstrung by the fact that some American politicians don’t seem to understand what international law is. [Ian Fletcher| April 15, 2016 |Huffington Post] They talk about signing this agreement like it’s a lease on an storefront in Indianapolis, where what’s written down on paper really…
On February 4, 2016, President Obama signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on behalf of the United States. The TPP agreement has been in negotiation behind closed doors since 2010 between the United States and 11 other countries around the Pacific Rim: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.…
In 2010, Canada hosted the G7 finance ministers in Nunavut, the country’s frigid Arctic province that is home to a mere 30,000 Inuit people. [Parag Khanna| April 11, 2016 |Market Watch] Canada’s “Northern Strategy” for the Arctic was a centerpiece of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s tenure, resulting in a larger coast guard, new icebreakers,…