MP Materials, the only active rare earths mining company in the U.S., is making great progress. And yet at the same time, the company just reported a financial loss. The contradiction illustrates the challenges involved for the U.S. in rebuilding a rare earths industrial capability.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has joined a chorus of Biden administration officials who all agree tariffs are needed to counter China’s mercantilism and export strategy.
A 10% “universal” tariff on all U.S. imports, combined with a schedule of income tax cuts would generate economic growth of $728 billion and 2.8 million additional jobs, according to the CPA economic model of the U.S. economy.
CPA’s chief economist Jeff Ferry joined two other panelists Wednesday to talk trade in an hour-long webinar by Industry Week magazine titled the “2024 Manufacturing Economy First Half Checkup.”
John Deere will lay off or offer early retirement to over 200 workers in Iowa, while at the same time the tractor producer is gearing up to move production of mid-frame skid steer loaders and compact loaders from its plant in Dubuque, Iowa to a proposed new facility in Mexico.
Last week, Republicans and Democrats from the Senate’s Joint Economic Committee squared off against each other – with one side arguing in favor of industrial policy programs like the Inflation Reduction Act – and the other side arguing in favor of lower corporate taxes.
The free trade consensus of economists, politicians, and financial pundits operating in polite society is fracturing.
So what is comparative advantage? Comparative advantage occurs when the ratio of costs in one country differs from the ratio of costs in another.
The next president should use every tool to rebuild America’s productivity, industrial base and middle class. And they should ignore the conventional economic textbook view that predicts calamity if those tools are used, especially because these predictions never come true.
When drugs are pulled from pharmacy shelves, it’s somewhat of a well-kept secret that it is the pharmaceutical company that voluntarily warns buyers of the potential harm from the defect.
