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…
Editor’s note: The US needs an industrial strategy. Our fear of picking winners is not shared by East Asia or Germany. Many U.S. firms have long had a simple mantra: “Invent here, manufacture there.” But, increasingly, those same companies are now choosing to invent as well as manufacture abroad. From automotive to semiconductors to pharma to clean energy, America’s innovation centers have…
Editors note: this article details why the US trade Representative‘s office is the most effective agency in the administration. As announced earlier, I spent the last two weeks or so traveling about. Most of that was in Washington and its environs. While in DC I had the opportunity to brunch, coffee break, and do all…
Editor’s note: Labor unions will be important as to whether the Democrats support the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. There will be significant jockeying as this deal comes up for a vote next year. Labor provisions in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, while an improvement over the original NAFTA, are unlikely to make a “meaningful difference” for North American workers,…
Excerpt: “The dirty secret of globalization-driven cheap-labor offshoring is that it has boosted profits by much more than it has lowered consumer prices. The claim is that consumers will be hurt, but in the first instance, it is likely that the huge profit margins of the offshoring firms get whittled down first. They’ll still make…
Editor’s note: Even more Chinese commercial espionage. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, October 30, 2018 Chinese intelligence officers and those working under their direction, which included hackers and co-opted company insiders, conducted or otherwise enabled repeated intrusions into private companies’ computer systems in the United States and abroad for…
Excerpt: “Jinhua poses a significant risk of becoming involved in activities that are contrary to the national security interests of the United States,” the Commerce Department said in a statement announcing the new restrictions. [Kate O’Keeffe | October 29, 2018 | WSJ] The U.S. has raised the stakes in a battle with Beijing over intellectual property…
Editor’s note: CPA believes that in 2019 the US will impose tariffs on all Chinese imports. The US-China skirmish now goes beyond trade and intellectual property theft to a great powers rivalry. It is unlikely that Trump and Xi will come to an agreement. The U.S. is preparing to announce by early December tariffs on…
Editor’s note: This news is very big. It brings the dollar overvaluation issue closer to the fore. The wrongheaded “strong dollar” stance of the US may soon give way to a competitive dollar position. China guided the yuan to its weakest official level in a decade on Tuesday—a move that could fuel expectations of a…
President Trump’s decisive actions on trade with China are a long time in coming because U.S. manufacturers have struggled for years against heavily subsidized competition from China. Op-ed by Michael Stumo originally appeared in LifeZette on October 27, 2018 And whether it’s hefty industrial subsidies, currency undervaluation, intellectual property theft, or the dumping of steel…
