Euro devaluation is eating deeply into the profitability of CPA member manufacturers. I just got off the phone with Jack Davis, owner of I Squared R Element Company in Albany NY.  I Squared R is the largest U.S. manufacturer of silicon carbide heating elements (see picture above).  Because the euro has dropped 30% in value…

China produces and consumes about 60 percent of the world’s cement — the Three Gorges Dam alone required 16 million tonnes of it. To put China’s massive 21st century construction splurge and concrete consumption into perspective, Bill Gates made a mind-blowing comparison. According to his blog, between 2011 and 2013, China consumed 6.6 gigatons of…

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Nobel laureate Paul Krugman came out against the Pacific Rim trade deal, calling it “fundamentally trivial“ for the U.S. trade sector. “Pushing this [trade deal] has nothing to do with the interest of a vast majority of Americans,” Krugman, the Princeton University economist and New York Times columnist, said Tuesday in a…

Larry Summers has always promoted the free-trade agreements, but not anymore. His analysis below is far better than his prior position. This article indicates how we are, as Americans, at a point where we are questioning the trade policies of the past and looking for a new direction. It is the new mainstream view, and…

Of the 46 incoming GOP freshmen House members, twenty refused to sign a letter supporting more executive authority sought by Obama for Fast Track trade authority. [Reposted from the End Global Governance blog  |  March 11, 2015] Freshmen Reps. Tom Emmer (R-MN-06) and Mimi Walters (R-CA-45) tried, but failed, to get most of the incoming…

It was exciting to be in Washington, D. C. last week for the annual Coalition for a Prosperous America’s legislative fly-in for the third time. I arrived on the “red eye” flight from San Diego early Tuesday morning and was at the Capitol for my team’s first appointment while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was…

Waikaloa, HAWAII — Australia’s chief negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations said ahead of an informal round kicking off here Monday (March 9) that nine out of the agreement’s 30 chapters have been closed, and that most of the other chapters are nearing conclusion. [Reposted from Inside US Trade  |  March 9, 2015] The…

The following letter was sent to Rep. Richard Neal (MA01) by the Great Barrington Democratic Town Committee, a local democratic party committee in his district, in opposition to Fast Track.  Great Barrington Democratic Town Committee March 9, 2015 Congressman Richard Neal341 Cannon House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515 Dear Congressman Neal: The Great Barrington Democratic Town…

Progressives believe that fair trade agreements are possible – but not if the administration follows the old model for negotiations [Reposted from The Guardian  | Raúl M Grijalva and Keith Ellison  |  March 9, 2015] The United States is currently negotiating with eleven other nations to finalize the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – one of the…

The United States had a goods and services trade deficit of approximately $463.5 billion in 2013, which cost millions of U.S. jobs. Contrary to the well agreed-upon fact that trade deficits lead to job loss, the Business Roundtable (BRT) has sponsored a study which claims to show that U.S. goods and services trade (both imports…