“Inept, Inexperienced” Steelmaker Delivered Structure With Cracks & Defects From 2006 to 2013, California’s state transportation agency Caltrans rebuilt the Bay Bridge, California’s second most famous bridge, which connects San Francisco to the Oakland-Berkeley area across San Francisco Bay. The rebuilding project attracted enormous controversy, due to delays, numerous flaws and defects found in the…
In 1965, when we imported less, manufacturing employed 24% of the U.S. workforce. By 2015, substantial portions of our manufacturing base had moved overseas, and domestic manufacturing had shrunk to just 9% of employment. [Frank Berlage| January 7, 2017 |Barrons] The U.S. has now run a trade deficit for 40 years, and at present levels…
The 2016 elections threw a bucket of cold water into the face of free-trade orthodoxy. It’s no surprise that voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere are deeply discouraged by decades of failed promises of boon from establishment leaders. The real surprise is, what took us so long? [Stan Sorscher| January 10, 2017 |The Huffington…
by Michael Stumo With the election behind us and the new administration in front of us, what can you expect from CPA and its bipartisan membership this year? The short answer is that we will consolidate our trade wins and shoot for more. The Trans-Pacific Partnership is dead, so our campaign to kill it ended…
by Michael Stumo The American Economics Association is fretting the fact that their economic theories are no longer trusted. University education material is starting to include criticisms of and alternatives to old trade theory that is impervious to acknowledgement of glaring and persistent failures. On the second point, I just had a long interview with…
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director The US trade deficit grew 6.8% in November to $45.2 billion, its worst monthly figure in nine months. The November report hammered home the challenge of a large and growing manufacturing deficit and large bilateral deficits with many trading partners. The deficit growth was driven by a small decline…
President-elect Trump has named two deputy directors of the new National Trade Council he announced last month, one to steer “Buy American, Hire American” efforts and the other focused on the defense industrial base. [Daily News | January 5, 2017 |Inside US Trade] The council, to be led by economics professor Peter Navarro, will advise…
A Republican proposal aimed at cutting tax rates and keeping jobs in the U.S. risks whacking the earnings of big U.S. retailers by driving up the cost of imported clothes, furniture and other goods. [SUSAN PULLIAM, SARAH NASSAUER and RICHARD RUBIN| January 6, 2017 |Wall Street Journal] Among the companies whose earnings are calculated to take a hit…
Ushering in the New Year, President-elect Trump named Robert Lighthizer, a veteran trade negotiator and “harsh critic of China’s trade practices,” to be his lead trade negotiator. Trump’s trade rhetoric has been blood and thunder. He has threatened 45 percent retaliatory tariffs against China and other trade partners that are not living up to their…
The U.S. distributor of Corona beer is already planning ways to avoid raising prices if Congress boosts the tax bill on the company’s Mexican imports as part of a broader tax overhaul, said company chief executive Rob Sands. [VIPAL MONGA and JENNIFER MALONEY | January 5, 2017 |Wall Street Journal] Republicans, who are set to take full…