Since the late July negotiating round that failed to reach a final deal for the corporate-leaning Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, a lot has been written about the merits of a purported ISDS carve-out and whether it played a role in the failed effort to complete a deal by July 31. (Don’t know much about the TPP? Learn more.)…

Imagine that you are a party to a case in a US court.  Imagine that your adversary is a company.  Imagine that the judge used to work as an attorney for that company.  That’s what happens in WTO courts. The US recently lost a WTO case on our country of origin labeling (COOL) law for…

China must wait until at least next year for the renminbi to join an exclusive club of the world’s top currencies, the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday. [Reposted from The New York Times  |  AP  |   August 19, 2015] The fund’s board voted to leave unchanged until Sept. 30, 2016, a basket of currencies…

If the US and Japan have their way in TPP negotiations, non-TPP countries’ auto parts makers can access the US and other TPP countries’ markets with favorable tariff treatment. But those countries will not have to live up to TPP standards or concede anything in negotiations.  They will be “free riders”. Canadian, Mexican auto parts…

Speakers Deliver during R-CALF USA’s 16th Annual Convention R-CALF USA’s two-day convention in Denver, Colo. was jumpstarted by Angus Mc McIntosh, Ph.D., who has served as an expert witness in nationally renowned private property rights lawsuits. McIntosh provided a detailed analysis of the process the courts have used to confirm that western ranchers have acquired…

  It took less than a year for America’s factory output to rebound from the 1991 recession. It took 3½ years to bounce back from the 2001 recession. Now, six years clear of the Great Recession, manufacturing output still hasn’t returned to the pre-crisis levels it reached in 2007, according to revised economic data from the Federal…

  For Immediate Release August 21, 2015                 Contact: Josh Goldstein 202-637-5018 Vietnam’s Currency Devaluation Further Exposes Trade Policy Failures   Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on the devaluation of Vietnam’s currency: Vietnam’s currency devaluation is a predictable response to China’s action last week and further proof of the United States Trade Representative’s failure to negotiate trade…

Updated: Officials from the United States, Mexico and Canada are holding talks this week in Washington on outstanding issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, according to sources familiar with the meeting. [ August 20, 2015| Inside U.S. Trade ] These sources said the talks would begin Thursday (Aug. 20), leaving open the possibility that…

  The recent Chinese government devaluation of its currency by approximately 4.4 percent is a cogent reminder of how the Chinese manipulate their economy and the world’s. There is no doubt that what the Chinese are doing is an effort to make their exports less expensive, a fact that has been blatantly confirmed by senior…

  HONG KONG — When Prime Minister Li Keqiang convened the Chinese cabinet last month, the troubled economy was the main topic on the agenda. [ by Keith Bradsher | August 17, 2015 | New York Times ] The stock market had stumbled after a yearlong boom. Money was flooding out of the country. Most…