Background: Beginning this week President Obama will marshal his Cabinet members to pressure members of Congress to vote in favor of Fast-Track Authority, also known as Trade Promotion Authority. [Memo from R-CALF USA | January 19, 2015] Fast-Track Authority is Nixon-era legislation that delegates to the President authorities that the U.S. Constitution granted only to…
Unabashed liberals Rosa DeLauro and Keith Ellison are finding themselves taking sides with tea party-backed Republicans Walter Jones and Duncan Hunter in the fight against a common enemy — the White House’s GOP-backed trade agenda. [Reposted from Politico | Adam Behsudi | January 20, 2015] The extreme political opposites are pushing back on trade just…
A frustrated White House is planning to blitz congressional Democrats on trade in the weeks following Tuesday’s State of the Union address. [Reposted from The Hill | Vicki Needham | January 20, 2015] President Obama is tasking every member of his Cabinet to round up votes from Democrats for fast-track negotiating power, which would give…
Under the leadership of National Economic Council Director Jeff Zients, the White House has set up an operation of senior officials seeking to garner votes for a fast-track or Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill, according to informed sources. [Reposted from World Trade Online | January 15, 2015] It involves Cabinet officials assigned to reach out…
The leaders of seven conservative Tea Party organizations on Tuesday (Jan. 13) launched the first volley in their campaign against the congressional passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), and held open the possibility of working with Democratic-aligned groups in order to gather enough opposition to defeat any TPA bill. [Reposted from InsideTrade.com …
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) is trying to get people talking about the trade deficit and the harm it is doing our wages, our jobs and our potential for mutual prosperity. He’s right to do this [Reposted from the Campaign for America’s Future blog | Dave Johnson | January 13, 2015] Last week Grayson spoke at…
PARIS — The Swiss central bank stunned global markets on Thursday by abandoning a crucial part of its three-year effort to hold down the value of its national currency against the ever-weakening euro. [Reposted from The New York Times | David Jolly and Neil Irwin | January 15, 2015] The country had been trying to…
DALIAN, China — The plan here seems far-fetched — a $36 billion tunnel that would run twice the length of the one under the English Channel, and bore deep into one of Asia’s active earthquake zones. When completed, it would be the world’s longest underwater tunnel, creating a rail link between two northern port cities.…
China spurs exports by giving VAT rebates to certain industries and products. It also curtails exports by denying VAT rebates. “Why would they ever deny VAT rebates if they want to continue being an export powerhouse?”, you may ask. There are probably a host of reasons all having to do with their industrial policy. …
Despite all the much-heralded talk of the rebirth of manufacturing, a new report suggests that the trend may be vastly overstated [Reposted from The Guardian | Suzanne McGee | January 12, 1015] Have we been letting a good story get in the way of the facts? The “manufacturing renaissance” has been the central point in…
