By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst US chip makers have a commanding lead when it comes to sales worldwide of the chips in our X Box controllers, laptops, and — increasingly — our cars. But mostly all of it is made in Asia. The recent chip shortage has executives from Intel, AMD and elsewhere asking…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst China threatens to withhold some key rare earths used in navigational equipment on American fighter planes. But that’s not all. For at least a decade, Washington has been aware of China’s growing dominance in mining and processing of rare earth metals. These metals might not be household names like…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst President Biden makes first call to Xi Jinping since winning the White House. By the looks of things, we have a continuation of the previous government’s take on China. President Joe Biden spoke with his China counterpart on Wednesday evening, and after wishing him a Happy Lunar New Year…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst USTR Senior Advisor Mark Wu shares our view on the World Trade Organization. He warns that the Biden Administration will likely realize that they do have to go it alone sometimes in dealing with China, just like the previous administration did. If you have never heard of Mark Wu,…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst New hires inside the USTR bode well for CPA view on trade, currency. Joe Biden is filling new roles at the United States Trade Representative, led by Katherine Tai, whom we suspect will replace Robert Lighthizer. The new hires are interesting, including former Obama/Biden Treasury Department economist Brad Setser.…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst The December trade deficit in goods and services fell 3.5% to $66.6 billion in December after a big boom in November. One big takeaway from the last month of 2020, China trade is giving way to Mexico in near-shoring effort. The goods and services deficit for the month of…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst President Biden’s National Security Council looks tough on China. How will they act on it? President Biden, initially criticized for being soft on China, is having to prove otherwise. We are liking some of the additions to the China watch team inside the National Security Council (NSC). Other than…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst Why reshoring and near-shoring are better for the environment in the near-term. Globalization is an environmental headwind. If climate change risks are going to be measured in most policy decisions made in the Biden Administration, then the environmental impact of transoceanic shipping should be part of the equation.…
Electric vehicles are said to be the next big thing, and the next sure thing in automotive. How will the US fare? Nissan leads the pack. Tesla is second. We have three startups that show promise. Meanwhile, China is gaining and setting itself up to be an indispensable part of the EV automotive supply chain.…
By Kenneth Rapoza, CPA Industry Analyst Score one for the local pharmaceutical industry. FDA’s essential medicine and critical inputs list gives domestic producers a a sense of exactly what government procurement contracts will place under Buy America provisions. The Food & Drug Administration released a massive list of essential medicines and critical inputs on Friday…
