Treasury’s Foreign Exchange Report: Another Missed Opportunity to Address Trade Imbalances

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 18, 2018

President Trump has made reducing the large US trade deficit a priority. However, he has delegated responsibility on this objective to officials who lack any useful tools to affect the trade balance. Meanwhile, the agency that has traditionally been responsible for trade imbalances—the Treasury Department—just issued another semiannual report(link is external) that bemoans the problem without giving…

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Another Voice: Trump is right to defend against China’s economic aggression

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 17, 2018

For years, Buffalo manufacturers have been competing—and often losing—against government-owned Chinese companies. US manufacturers are among the most productive in the world, but they simply can not overcome the hurdles posed by China’s longstanding predatory trade practices, including dumping, subsidies, intellectual property theft, and forced technology transfer. President Trump’s tariff plans will confront and deter…

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China’s Communists Rewrite the Rules for Foreign Businesses

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 16, 2018

HONG KONG — One hammer and sickle at a time, the Communist Party is making its way deeper into everyday Chinese life — and that includes the foreign companies doing business there. [ ALEXANDRA STEVENSON | April 13, 2018 | The New York Times] Honda, the Japanese automaker, changed its legal documents to give the party…

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Trump Looks to Assuage Trade Critics With Farm Package

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 12, 2018

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is seeking to blunt domestic opposition to its trade policies with a relief package for farmers affected by the U.S. trade spat with China, say officials involved in the discussions. [Bob Davis, Siobhan Hughes and Jesse Newman | April 12, 2018 | WSJ] The aid package, which could climb into the billions of dollars, is…

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Study Shows Big Benefits to Chinese Companies From Joint Ventures with U.S. Firms

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 12, 2018

In the trade battle between the U.S. and China, joint ventures play a starring role. The U.S. is threatening China with tariffs on $150 billion of goods mainly because it claims that Beijing forces the U.S. partners to transfer technology unwillingly to Chinese partners—and says that must stop. [Bob Davis | April 12, 2018 | WSJ] Now four…

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China treats US like a colony — luckily, Trump is fighting back

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 12, 2018

Economist Paul Krugman predicted a global recession after President Trump was elected. He was wrong. Most economists predicted a British recession after the Brexit vote. They were wrong. Economists and journalists are now predicting dire economic consequences from Trump’s tariffs on China. In several months, we will see that they are wrong too. Op-ed originally appeared in The…

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This Pentagon Paper Explains Why the Trump Administration Is Reining In Tech Trade with China

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 11, 2018

China’s investment in sensitive U.S. technology has the Trump administration so worried that it imposed tariffs on Chinese tech goods on Tuesday, while lawmakers are looking for ways to bar similar future investments. Why now? One reason is a recent Pentagon white paper that warns about Beijing’s plans to appropriate made-in-America tech. [BY PATRICK TUCKER | April 6, 2018 |…

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China Installed Military Jamming Equipment on Spratly Islands, U.S. Says

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 11, 2018

China has installed equipment on two of its fortified outposts in the Spratly Islands capable of jamming communications and radar systems, a significant step in its creeping militarization of the South China Sea, U.S. officials say. [Michael R. Gordon and Jeremy Page | April 9, 2018 | WSJ] The move strengthens China’s ability to assert its extensive territorial…

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China Cannot Use Its Treasury Holdings As Leverage. Here’s Why

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 9, 2018

Every time there is some kind of dispute between China and the United States, a litany of voices emerges to warn of spiking interest rates. These warnings are wrong-headed. And this post is going to explain why. Beijing is not Washington’s banker [Edward Harrison | April 7, 2018 | Credit Writedowns] We went through this…

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Opinion: Global trade is broken, and Trump is sparking the crisis needed to move ahead

ArchiveBy Michael StumoApril 9, 2018

President Donald Trump’s trade actions on aluminum and steel and his confrontational stance with China on broader trade and investment issues have allies alarmed about both a trade war and the future of the World Trade Organization. It is important to be clear that the rise of China made that institution far less relevant long…

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