Editors note: The new house Democratic majority is focusing on enforceability of labor provisions in the new US Mexico Canada Agreement. Dems should also start endorsing tariffs and fixing the noncompetitive dollar. WASHINGTON — President Trump’s promise to quickly pass a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement has been upended by the midterm elections, with…
The United Kingdom and the European Union took a big swipe at the United States last week. Both the British government and the European Commission floated the idea of a “digital tax” on Facebook, Twitter, and other tech companies they believe are evading European taxes. But if tax avoidance is the issue — and Europe believes it…
Editors note: the department of commerce is becoming very aggressive with self initiating trade enforcement cases. Wilbur Ross is doing a good job, unlike his immediate predecessors. The Commerce Department on Wednesday announced affirmative final determinations against imports of Chinese aluminum sheet, advancing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations that were self-initiated by the agency last…
Editor’s note: Rep. Bill Pascrell wants to chair the trade subcommittee of Ways & Means. He has been a strong fair trader, is receptive to CPA ideas, but has not yet fully embraced “strategic trade in the US interest”, which is CPA’s view of trade policy. Rep. Richard Pascrell (D-NJ), the ranking member of the…
One morning in October, a smiling Wilbur Ross, President Trump’s commerce secretary and most visible trade warrior, enters the lobby of an Embassy Suites hotel in Washington. Clad in a blue suit, white shirt, and red tie, which upon closer inspection turns out to be decorated with tiny beavers, Ross greets members of a national…
Editors note: this story is important because it again debunks the disproven claim that automation caused manufacturing job losses rather than trade. Looking back, there were two kinds of people who lived in America in 2016: people who believed Donald Trump, and people who believed data. [Gwynn Guilford | November 8, 2018 | Quartz] Trump…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director The USMCA Agreement contains rules of origin for the automotive industry that will have a wide-ranging effect on the auto industry. They should be beneficial for US automakers, their suppliers, and autoworkers. At the headline level, automobiles will only be considered originating in North America and tariff-free if 75%…
Editor’s note: This is a good article describing how manufacturing supply chains and worker skills are critical for national defense. If you want to believe America is still the “arsenal of democracy” that Franklin Roosevelt described in 1940, you might want to avoid looking too closely at the U.S. manufacturing sector. China has become the…
Widening Trade Deficit Contrasts with Strong Jobs Picture, as China Trade Deficit Sets Another Record The federal government’s employment report for October showed the US economy continues to perform strongly, with job growth of 250,000 in the month, including 32,000 added manufacturing jobs. Unemployment continues to be low and the labor force participation rate…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director Manufacturing employment in the US has now shown year-on-year growth of more than 250,000 employees for six consecutive months, the largest and most sustained manufacturing job growth we’ve seen since 1998. Manufacturing employment may finally be on the path to a real recovery from the severe downturn that began…
