On March 8th, the president announced tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum tariffs. The tariffs were levied under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Act. Imports of both metals were reaching levels that seriously threatened US national security, including the reliable supply of metal for military use and use in vital…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director For decades, economists have taught David Ricardo’s Law of Comparative Advantage as if it is an absolute law. But the tide is turning, as some highly respected economists are now moving away from the doctrinaire position that all free trade is always good everywhere, and they begin to acknowledge…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director Industrial espionage has been going on for centuries, but experts agree China’s espionage campaign is on a different scale from anything we’ve seen in history. It has been going on at least since the 1990s and there is no sign it is letting up. Targets include an incredibly broad…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director CPA Economic Model Refutes Alarmist Trade Partnership Study A Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) modeling study of the impact of the Section 232 tariffs on the U.S. economy shows minimal national macroeconomic impact of the tariffs. The study shows that U.S. GDP would fall by 8/1000s of 1…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director SolarWorld Americas is ramping production of solar cells at its Hillsboro, Oregon facility. CEO Juergen Stein tells us that the company is aiming to add another 300 employees before year’s end, which would bring its total US workforce to 600 people. “We are already hiring,” Stein said. “We are…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director A major reason the US Congress and Obama administration approved the KORUS free trade agreement with South Korea in 2011 was the expected benefits to US agricultural exports. Six years later, it’s now clear those benefits have not materialized. US agricultural exports to South Korea have fallen 9% since 2011,…
Donald Trump has made tearing up NAFTA a cornerstone of his presidency. But as trade negotiations enter a third round, could it be Mexico that leads the charge to overhaul the deal?
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director The Trump administration’s rumored Section 301 investigation of Chinese trade practices opens up a new front in the ongoing “trade wars” with China, this time over intellectual property. A key event driving concern over Chinese use or abuse of foreign intellectual property was China’s publication of an ambitious industrial…
Recent trade figures from the Department of Commerce show the U.S. international trade picture continues to deteriorate. The U.S. trade deficit in June hit $43.6 billion, almost the same as the year-ago June level of $43.8 billion. But for the first half of this year, at $276.6 billion, the trade deficit is 10.7 percent larger than…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director President Trump’s “Buy American week” was largely a feel-good event, but behind the scenes there is growing nationwide support in the political and business worlds for more US spending to go on American-made goods and services. Buy American is important because the federal government, state and local governments, and…