Today the Commerce Department announced that the US trade deficit for January was $48.5 billion, up 9% from the December figure of $44.3 billion and up 12% from the year-ago figure last January. “Our trade deficit continues to stack up month by month, adding to the negative pressure on the U.S. economy,” said CPA Research Director, Jeff…
BEIJING — China has charted out a $300 billion plan to become nearly self-sufficient by 2025 in a range of important industries, from planes to computer chips to electric cars, as it looks to kick-start its next stage of economic development. [KEITH BRADSHER and PAUL MOZUR| March 7, 2017 |The New York Times] But big companies in the…
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…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director There has been lots of talk of the danger of “trade wars” in newspapers in recent months. The Trade War Alarmists are likely wrong. In a sense we already are in a trade war, because many of the largest nations we import from are using strategic trade policies to…
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,…
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…
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…
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…