Commerce Department Launches Another Anti-Dumping Investigation into Steel Products

This time, it’s cold-drawn mechanical tubing from several countries, including China.   [ELIZABETH BROTHERTON-BUNCH] May 11th, 2017 The battle against dumped steel imports wages on. On Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced his department is initiating an investigation into cold-drawn mechanical tubing imports from countries including China, Germany, Italy, India, South Korea and Switzerland. The antidumping and…

Grand Old Protectionists

“[Editorial note: An important blast from the past. This is a 2008 op-ed by Bob Lighthizer, Trump’s nominee for US Trade Ambassador. His criticism of Senator John McCain’s approach to trade policy is the source of McCain’s obstruction of Lighthizer’s nomination to day.]” [ROBERT E. LIGHTHIZER] March 6th, 2008 [The New York Times] NOW that…

Upcoming Commerce Department Hearings To Give New Impetus To Battle To Fix Trade

By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director The Trump Administration’s views on some issues (think health care) has evolved over recent months. But on foreign trade, the Administration has consistently stuck to Donald Trump’s pre-election view that past trade deals have been a lousy deal for the U.S. worker and they need to be fixed.  Secretary…

Peter Navarro: A ‘Bricklayer’ Of Trump’s Protectionist Wall

National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro says the U.S. needs to unwind “bad” trade agreements and strike new ones that would prevent such practices. He says the administration is off to a good start. Emily Bogle/NPR [Scott Horsley] May 3rd, 2017 [NPR] On his 100th day in office, President Trump signed an executive order creating…

CPA Statement on Confirmation of Lighthizer as US Trade Ambassador

The following statement can be attributed to Michael Stumo, CEO, Coalition for a Prosperous America: CPA is pleased that Bob Lighthizer was confirmed as the next U.S. Trade Ambassador by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the US Senate today. Ambassador Lighthizer will bring a new direction of trade realism to his office. He will fill…

Workshops for Warriors Holds Successful Inaugural Gala

On April 20, 2017, over 300 people attended the Workshops for WarriorsInaugural Gala that was held on the USS Midway Carrier Museum in San Diego, California. Former California Assembly member Nathan Fletcher, now a Professor of Practice in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego, was the Master of Ceremonies. [Michele Nash-Hoff] May…

McConnell files cloture motion to proceed to Lighthizer’s nomination

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Tuesday filed a cloture motion to proceed to the nomination of U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer. [Dan Dupont] May 9th, 2017 [Inside U.S. Trade]  McConnell has been unable to move on Lighthizer via a unanimous consent request opposed by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), as Inside U.S. Trade first reported on May…

What China Really Wants: ‘Free Market’ Status

Is China a market economy? At first glance, given the pervasive — and, in fact, growing — role of the state in every aspect of Chinese industry and finance, the question seems inane. Of course it isn’t. [Alan Tonelson] May 2nd, 2017 [LifeZette] The Trump administration is expected to make this obvious truth the official policy of…

Jimmy Carter: Trump is right. Canada’s lumber trade practices are unfair.

I agree with the recent decision of the White House and the Commerce Department to impose anti-subsidy duties against Canada’s unfairly traded softwood lumber imports.   [Jimmy Carter] May 9th, 2017 [The Washington Post] This belated enforcement of U.S. trade laws will help millions of private timberland owners, American forestry workers and members of their local communities by leveling the playing…

McCain, citing ‘unanswered questions,’ objecting to unanimous consent request on Lighthizer

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is objecting to a unanimous consent request to proceed to the nomination of U.S. Trade Representative nominee Robert Lighthizer, McCain told Inside U.S. Trade. [Jenny Leonard] May 9th, 2017 [Inside Trade] “I have questions that are outstanding and I’d like to have answers to those questions. That’s the way the senate works,”…