You don’t have to know David Ricardo from Ricky Ricardo to understand the problems with President Trump’s approach to fixing America’s trade woes. [ Spencer Jakab | March 5, 2018 | WSJ] But a seemingly unrelated news item on Monday shows what is being ignored in the debate over Mr. Trump’s tariffs: The U.S. trade balance may be much worse…
Gary Cohn is resigning as President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, leaving his post as the administration prepares to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum that Cohn has opposed. [Justin Sink, Dakin Campbell, and Shannon Pettypiece | March 6, 2018 | Bloomberg] “It has been an honor to serve my country and enact pro-growth economic policies…
After a year-long investigation, President Trump is poised to impose stiff tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. for national security reasons. The move prompted angry responses from global trading partners, drawing warnings of an international trade war. [FRANK DOWD IV | March 5, 2018 | Charlotte Pipe] But America has been…
This culminated last week. But the war — between Peter Navarro’s economic nationalist camp and Gary Cohn’s free trader-cohort — has been roiling the White House for months. [Jonathan Swan | March 4, 2018 | Axios] It came to a head in the Oval Office in January of this year, when Cohn, Navarro, Rob Porter, Wilbur…
A possible merger of two giant makers of computer chips could revolutionize the all-important industry — which touches everything from smartphones to cars — and shift the balance of power from California to Asia. [ALAN RAPPEPORT, CECILIA KANG and CHAD BRAY | MARCH 5, 2018 | NY Times] Washington isn’t so sure that is a good idea. In a rare…
If you ask the CEO of Nucor, the largest steel producer in the United States, he’ll tell you that President Donald Trump’s plans to put tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are fair game. [Elizabeth Gurdus | March 5, 2018 | CNBC] In a Monday interview on “Mad Money,” Nucor CEO John Ferriola pushed back against arguments that the tariffs…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director The productivity figures for the US economy in 2017, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last month, show the US economy continuing to underperform on productivity growth, one of the most important metrics for the long-term health of the economy. The labor productivity of our non-farm business…
MEXICO CITY – Negotiators have made progress on automotive rules of origin, state-to-state dispute settlement and a review mechanism during the seventh round of North American Free Trade Agreement talks here, though the U.S. continues to refuse to back down from some of its more controversial proposals, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. [ Brett…
Last week President Trump announced new tariffs on steel and aluminum products, and the response couldn’t have been more negative — critics warned of trade wars, recession, global instability. But the blowback is overblown, and seems to constitute reflexive anti-Trump sentiment rather than careful economic reasoning. [Josh Bivens | March 5, 2018 | NY Times]…
Yesterday, President Donald Trump said that he has decided to impose tariffs of 25% on all steel imports and 10% on aluminum imports, promising to sign the measures next week. Trade remedies for steel and aluminum are long overdue. [Robert E. Scott | March 2, 2018 | Marketwatch] Trump promised quick action after announcing investigations of the national-security…
