Inside the bitter Oval Office tariff fight

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…

US Notches Dismal Productivity Performance in 2017

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…

Auto, dispute settlement, sunset clause talks progress as bilateral discussions break out on ISDS

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…

Don’t Worry About Trump’s Tariffs

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]…

Tariffs on steel, aluminum are long overdue

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…

Trump rightly puts foot down on steel cheating

As the recent Winter Olympics reminds us, cheating is absolutely unacceptable in the international arena. A policy of “zero tolerance” is enforced, and any athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs are immediately disqualified.  Op-ed By Michael Stumo Originally Appeared on The Hill Unfortunately, such scrutiny doesn’t always extend to the world of international trade, with countries like…