Excerpt: “The corrupt policy that prevents consumers from knowing from which country the beef they purchase for themselves and their families originated is the best policy the old-guard politicians and their multinational corporations can buy.” For decades old-guard politicians and multinational corporations worked together to satisfy their mutual self-interests – more wealth. They did so with little…

By Steven Byers, CPA Senior Economist Last summer, Chinese officials began talking about the liberalization of Chinese markets, in response to criticism of the highly nationalist and protectionist Made in China 2025 (MIC2025) strategic plan. That was in response to growing trade tensions with the US, and other foreign governments and businesses. Flying under-the-radar, however, the…

Editors note: Dear Mr. President, we have a paper on that.  https://www.prosperousamerica.org/quantifying_economic_growth_job_creation_competitive_dollar  President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. dollar is too strong and took a swipe at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as someone who “likes raising interest rates.” [Alyza Sebenius | March 2, 2019 | Bloomberg] The dollar was quoted lower against the…

Editor’s note: 1) Will China cut the VAT for imports? 2) CPA’s position is that the US should have a VAT or goods and services tax to counter foreign VATs and to fund the reduction of other domestic taxes and costs. 3) This article also shows that using a VAT can, when needed, provide an…

Editor’s note: Tariff-armageddon is still not happening. China know that its tariffs were pro-growth for its economy. We are just re-discovering that fact. But we also need to fix the overvalued dollar.  Manufacturing employment has risen for 18 straight months, the longest stretch of gains among nonsupervisory roles since the mid-1990s [Chip Cutter | March…

Excerpt: However, “the United States remains an independent nation, and our trade policy will be made here – not in Geneva. We will not allow the WTO Appellate Body and dispute settlement system to force the United States into a straitjacket of obligations to which we never agreed,” the report said. WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration filed…

Editors note: Good news. An important expansion of buy America programs. We need to expand it even more this year so US taxpayer money is spent on buying made in USA goods. New recruits at Lackland Air Force Base shuffle into a room stacked high with shoe boxes. They’re in the middle of one of…

Editor’s note: CPA has previously informed USTR of the impact of China’s devaluation since the tariffs were put in place. Ambassador Lighthizer’s decision against an exclusion process is based, in part, on that devaluation.  [February 27, 2019 | InsideTrade.com] Despite instructions from the House Appropriations Committee in a government funding package signed by the president…

Editors note: Beware slow walking. Trade Ambassador Lighthizer knows this risk.  Cui Tiankai says aspects requiring legislation could take ‘five to 10 years’, although some requested measures tally with Beijing’s own plans. Ambassador sees US action against Huawei as separate issue to trade talks but calls pursuit of the Chinese company ‘stupid’ and ‘absurd’ [Owen…

Editor’s note: Farmers and ranchers face subsidized global oversupply in commodities just as manufacturers do. China is a culprit but so is Brazil and other countries. The factories of Rural America are its fields. We need an agro-industrial strategy because we are mostly defenseless in the face of other countries’ agro-industrial strategy.  Washington, DC – U.S.…