At U.S. Ports, Exports Are Coming Up Empty

One of the fastest-growing U.S. exports right now is air. Shipments of empty containers out of the U.S. are surging this year, highlighting the impact the economic slowdown in China is having on U.S. exporters. The U.S. imports more from China than it sends back, but certain American industries—including those that supply scrap metal and…

Polizette: GOP Shipwreck in the Pacific

With TPP, Republicans can please Wall Street and multinationals — but lose the White House [Reposted from Polizette  |  Kevin Kearns  |  October 15, 2015] No Republican presidential candidate has made it to the White House without winning Ohio, and 2016 will be no exception, especially as the number of states truly in play narrows…

Business Groups Withholding TPP Support on Lack of Details

  Major U.S. business groups, citing internal frictions and uncertainty over the details of President Barack Obama’s 12-nation Pacific trade deal, are withholding their support for now, hobbling the administration’s early efforts to win congressional backing. [by William Mauldin | October 8, 2015 | Wall Street Journal] With big pharmaceutical companies and several other major…

TPP: Cutting 18,000 Tariffs? So what?

  Michael Froman, the US Trade Representative, is promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to a skeptical Congress with the lead claim that the deal will cut 18,000 tariffs. The implication is that the result will be American growth. But he does not claim US growth because that would be a lie. [by Michael Stumo |…