The Washington Post must think that U.S. trade policy is really awful. Why else would they continually lie to their readers and claim that the cause of the sharp job loss in manufacturing in recent years was automation? [Dean Baker| March 4, 2017 |Beat the Press] For fans of data rather than myths, the basic story is…
Americans desperately need simpler, fairer personal and corporate taxes. [Peter Morici| March 6, 2017 |Washington Post] The current system imposes terribly high rates and a myriad of special-interest credits and deductions. It requires expensive record keeping that drives taxpayers mad and complex auditing functions at the Internal Revenue Service that have proven susceptible to political abuse —…
By Michael Stumo, CEO The old guard free trade establishment is scrambling to counter the more economic nationalist positions of the Trump administration. Gary Hufbauer does not like Peter Navarro’s (Director, White House National Trade Counsel) national security concerns about the trade deficit resulting in other countries buying strategic assets in the US, including the…
China bears the brunt of U.S. anger over unfair trade, but Germany’s foreign surpluses are now far larger and may be more consequential for America’s economy and the rest of the world. [TOM FAIRLESS| March 6, 2017 |Wall Street Journal] Low-wage Chinese workers have put downward pressure on U.S. manufacturing wages for years, but Germany’s…
Do trade deficits matter? The question is important because America’s trade deficit in goods is large and persistent, about $2 billion every day. [PETER NAVARRO| March 5, 2017 |Wall Street Journal] The economic argument that trade deficits matter begins with the observation that growth in real GDP depends on only four factors: consumption, government spending,…
Steel attorney Stephen Vaughn has been named the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s general counsel and acting U.S. Trade Representative, according to the agency. [Jenny Leonard| March 3, 2017 |Inside US Trade] Vaughn, who was a member of President Trump’s USTR transition team, was expected to be chosen for the general counsel’s job once…
Law360, New York (March 3, 2017, 3:31 PM EST) — President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for U.S. pipelines to be built with American steel won’t apply to TransCanada Corp.’s controversial Keystone XL project, whose completion he has pushed for, the White House confirmed on Friday. [Keith Goldberg| March 3, 2017 |Law 360] The order issued by…
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this week told House Ways & Means Democrats that the Trump administration in mid-March will formally notify Congress of its intent to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, ranking member Richard Neal (D-MA) and other panel Democrats told Inside U.S. Trade. [Jenny Leonard| March 2, 2017 |Inside US Trade] “He made…
The Keystone XL Pipeline will not be subject to President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring infrastructure projects to be built with American steel, a White House spokeswoman said today. [BEN LEFEBVRE | March 2, 2016 |Politico] Trump signed the order calling for the Commerce Department to develop a plan for U.S. steel to be used…
Federal agents raided three Caterpillar buildings near its Illinois headquarters on Thursday, company and law enforcement officials said, in an escalation of an inquiry into the heavy equipment manufacturer’s offshore tax practices. [HIROKO TABUCHI| March 2, 2017 |New York Times] Caterpillar has been dogged by accusations that it slashed its domestic tax bill by shifting corporate profits…
