The US economy gained nearly 1.4 million jobs in August, making it the fourth month in a row of over 1 million jobs added. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.4% as lockdown pressures are starting to wear off and the economy bounces back towards normal levels of output. The Private Sector Job Quality Index (JQI)…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst The US needs a “whole-of-government” approach to re-shore production if Americans are ever going to produce what we consume. The trade deficit hit $63.5 billion in July, its highest monthly total since July 2008 ($67.0 million), though much of the deterioration is due to continued lockdowns and demand suppression…
By Kenneth Rapoza, Industry Analyst, CPA President Trump and many members of Congress are talking about reshoring pharmaceutical production. We look at the benefits of reshoring in health security, national security, and the economy. We also look at challenges to this objective, including the shortcomings in current Buy American and related legislation, the vague definitions…
CPA’s Take: This is excellent. Finally, import competition is being accepted in agriculture as harmful to domestic producers. Washington, DC — The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Commerce today released a report outlining the Trump Administration’s plan to address the threat posed by increased foreign imports to…
By Kenneth Rapoza, Industry Analyst, CPA The latest Chinese company additions to the Commerce Department’s Entity List shows the growing influence of national security in the fight with China. The Chinese company that was made famous for its 2017 “X-6 Skywalker” drone was put on the Commerce Department’s Entity List on Wednesday along with 23…
CPA’s Take: CPA supports efforts to remove Chinese stocks from the US stock market because they do not let us access their audited financial records. It is ridiculous that it has gone on this long. The spotlight fell on Chinese investments held by U.S. colleges this week as the White House looks to untangle the intricate…
CPA’s Take: The battle within the Biden campaign on trade between the Wall Street globalists and the fair traders is real. The former vice president is eager to de-emphasize trade, but that could leave tensions with allies and progressive Democrats to boil over. [Gavin Bade | August 20, 2020 | Politico] “Trump is going to…
By Kenneth Rapoza, Industry Analyst, CPA Joe Biden’s trade team has the right ideas on China. Here are some standouts we note in his Made in All of America trade policy. We are pleased to see that Joe Biden has come to grips with the fact that China is a problem for U.S. manufacturing and…
CPA’s Take: Very bad! The IMF has failed to stop currency manipulation. The US has acted with a modest regulation that defines when we can countervail foreign currency manipulation. Now the IMF is outrageously trying to stop that very modest regulation from being utilized. The US needs to go further and realign our overvalued dollar…
By Kenneth Rapoza, Industry Analyst, CPA Washing machine prices rose in 2018 and we are all reminded that tariffs are to blame. But they’ve been coming down ever since, inflation data shows. When President Trump put 20 percent tariffs on imported washing machines in 2018, there were howls of anguish from free-trade economists. They attacked…
