PHILADELPHIA — As Congress and the White House work on a trade agreement with Pacific countries, a key Democrat in the negotiations is criticizing the Obama administration for a lack of transparency — and more specifically, a lack of access to the actual text. [Reposted from Roll Call  |  Matt Fuller  |  January 29, 2015] Ways and…

WASHINGTON, Jan 30 (Reuters) – The Obama administration must insist that U.S. trading partners pledge not to manipulate currencies when negotiating trade deals, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance said on Friday. [Reposted from Reuters  |  January 30, 2015]   Addressing currency concerns was key to winning lawmakers’ support for a bill to…

I am in general a free trader; there is, I’d argue, a tendency on the part of some people with whom I agree on many issues to demonize trade agreements, to make them responsible for evils that have other causes. And my take on both of the trade agreements currently under negotiation — Pacific and…

HONG KONG — The Chinese government has adopted new regulations requiring companies that sell computer equipment to Chinese banks to turn over secret source code, submit to invasive audits and build so-called back doors into hardware and software, according to a copy of the rules obtained by foreign technology companies that do billions of dollars’…

Fed up with secret meetings that will decide the future of trade for more than a dozen nations, a number of protesters swarmed a congressional hearing on the TPP Tuesday morning. [Reposted from The Daily Dot  |  Kevin Collier  |  January 27, 2015] The Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive trade deal between the U.S. and 13…

United States Treasury secretaries routinely say that they favor a strong dollar, regardless of circumstances or economic conditions. And the dollar is strong right now, thanks in no small part to actions by foreign central banks. [Reposted from The New York Times  |  Jeff Sommer  |  January 24, 2015] The European Central Bank significantly loosened…

  [Reposted from Inside US Trade  |  January 26, 2015] Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, will take over as chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on international trade, customs and global competitiveness, according to a Jan. 22 joint press release from Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron…

Before President Obama leaves office, he wants to complete two major free-trade agreements, one with Asian nations and the other with the European Union. To do it, he says he needs a guarantee from Congress that it will simply vote yes or no on any deal the White House offers, without trying to amend it.…

  In his State of the Union message, President Obama suggested apprenticeships, tax reductions on new investments, and building new infrastructure as ways to increase jobs and reduce inequality in America.   [by Clyde Prestowitz | January 30, 2015 | Los Angeles Times] But he said virtually nothing about what is probably the single biggest…

Even as President Barack Obama was calling on Congress to grant him expanded powers to negotiate trade agreements, some of his staunchest allies were raising objections. [Reposted from Bloomberg  |  Carter Dougherty  |  January 20, 2015] “I’m the first one to admit that past trade deals haven’t always lived up to the hype,” Obama said…