Excerpt: “If all of the [China] tariffs were passed through to consumers–which has not happened judging by price data–the overall impact on prices would be only a 0.1 percentage point rise, according to the San Fran Fred’s estimate.” Although the prospect of a tariff hike has loomed large in financial markets and the financial media…

Excerpt: “Simply put, there is no tariff armageddon. Wages and purchasing power are up. But consumer prices aren’t.” Beijing has run roughshod over our economic well-being — and there are national security implications to rampant hacking [Michael Stumo | May 9, 2019 | LifeZette] The talking heads at CNBC are panicked right now about the…

Editor’s note: Good job by the Federal Communication Commission for blocking China Mobile’s application to operate in our market. The first time ever national security based denial by the FCC. China Mobile — the world’s largest mobile operator with nearly 930 million customers as of February 2019 — first filed an application for permission to operate…

Excerpt. “To the president’s credit, the tariffs are working,” said Dan DiMicco, the chairman of the trade lobbying group Coalition for a Prosperous America and a former trade adviser to Mr. Trump during his 2016 campaign. “America’s manufacturers and workers are now seeing gains as manufacturing employment rises and China’s hold on the U.S. market…

Monthly goods deficit with China falls to lowest level in five years Washington. This morning’s latest report from the Department of Commerce shows that the monthly US goods deficit with China fell to just $20.7 billion in March. That’s the smallest monthly deficit with China since March 2014. The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA)…

By Jeff Ferry, CPA Chief Economist The US trade deficit in goods and services edged up in March to $50.0 billion, slightly worse than February’s $49.3 billion. But the big news in today’s report from the Department of Commerce was that the US goods deficit with China has fallen significantly, to just $20.7 billion. This…

Editors note: Joe Biden risks being branded as clueless if he does not think China is a competitive threat to the United States. The president plans to use his trade war with China to attack the Democratic front-runner. [Elaina Plott | May 8, 2019 | The Atlantic] When trade talks between the United States and…

Excerpt: Dan DiMicco, a former steel executive and trade adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, said the president’s base wants him to maintain a tough position on trade, even if it causes some short-term economic head winds. “He believes that this trade issue is as important as the economy because they’re totally related,” he said. “He’s going…

Editor’s note: China’s economy is continuing to slow as it harvests the fruit of its trade war against the United States. China posted a big miss in its overall trade surplus for April, as exports unexpectedly fell and imports surprisingly rose. [Huileng Tan | May 8, 2019 | CNBC] The numbers came on Wednesday as…