How to stop our partners’ unfair trade practices

Editorial note: CPA believes trade law enforcement must be drastically increased, however enforcement is not enough without a goal to balance overall trade. [John Veroneau and Shara Aranoff| April 6, 2016 |Politico] Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton may not agree on much, but they have both criticized the government for failing to adequately enforce U.S.…

TAKING THE TPP TEMPERATURE

If you’re feeling like the Trans-Pacific Partnership doesn’t have much chance of passing this year, you’re not alone. During a lunchtime discussion of foreign policy and trade experts, Commerce Undersecretary for International Trade Stefan Selig was practically the only person who was optimistic that the deal could go through this year, our Doug Palmer reports…

Why Trump, Sanders, Clinton and Cruz Joined Ford in Fighting Asian Trade Pact

If there’s one thing Americans understand, it’s cars. [Leon Lazaroff| April 5, 2016 |The Street] The U.S. auto industry, all but dead following the U.S. banking crisis of 2008, has largely recovered from the recession. Domestic auto production is breaking records, fueled in recent quarters by the declining price of gasoline. General Motors(GM – Get Report)  and Chrysler, a division of Fiat…

No, National Borders Are Not ‘Arbitrary’

One of the truly dumbest arguments I hear in favor of free trade is that national borders are “arbitrary.” [Ian Fletcher| April 4, 2016 |Huffington Post] I usually get this from right-wing libertarian types, but occasionally from “one world” leftists, too. But it’s not true. For a start, calling national borders “arbitrary” is simply irrelevant,…

The Trade Deficit Does, Too, Matter

Never have I seen a political issue so susceptible to sophistry – in the original sense of that term connoting tricky conceptual sleight-of-hand – as trade economics. [Ian Fletcher| March 29, 2016 |Huffington Post] Never have I seen a political issue so susceptible to sophistry – in the original sense of that term connoting tricky…