The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday unanimously voted to approve the nomination of Gilbert Kaplan for under secretary of Commerce for international trade. [September 7, 2017 | Inside US Trade] Kaplan is a partner at the law firm King & Spalding, in its International Trade Group. “While at the firm, he filed and won the first ever…

In 2012, you could be forgiven for believing the U.S. titanium industry would benefit from the South Korea-U.S. (KORUS) free-trade agreement that was implemented that year. Korea had virtually no titanium industry. Tariff rates for both countries would drop to zero. You easily could have concluded that the U.S. titanium industry would increase exports to…

Subsidized Imports Have Devastated the U.S. Industry Washington~ The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) submitted a letter to the International Trade Commission in support of the Section 201 petitions filed by SolarWorld and Suniva. This trade enforcement case is pending before the US International Trade Commission which must decide whether a massive solar cell…

odern life runs on rare earths. The bright and sharp LED displays on your smartphone and TV, the energy-efficient light bulbs in your kitchen, the disc drive in your laptop, and the power steering in your car all rely on the unique chemical and physical properties of 17 hard-to-pronounce elements on the periodic chart known…

The Trump administration just started the process of renegotiating NAFTA, the trade deal between the US, Canada, and Mexico that became the template for globalization in the 21st Century. [Stan Sorscher | September 5, 2017 | Huffington Post] This would make more sense if we knew what we want to renegotiate. In 2016, voters answered…

The White House has assured key lawmakers that its threat to begin withdrawing from the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement has — for now — been taken off the table, sources told Inside U.S. Trade. [ Jenny leonard and Isabelle Hoagland | September 6, 2017 | Inside US Trade] According to these sources, the plan to terminate the agreement…

Congress will put together a tax reform bill with the goal of eliminating tax loopholes, simplifying the tax system and reducing tax rates.  One loophole that they should eliminate is the most self-destructive tax loophole ever enacted, the Foreign Investors Tax Loophole [Sections §871(h,i,k) and §881(c,d,e) of the Internal Revenue Service code]. Enacted in 1984, it lets…

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) today released the following statement about the U.S.-Korea trade agreement:  “North Korea’s latest nuclear test underscores yet again the vital importance of the strong…

After U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and South Korea’s trade minister, Kim Hyung-chong, failed last month to agree on how to move forward on the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement, the Trump administration is considering initiating the process of withdrawing from the deal as early as Tuesday, sources told Inside U.S. Trade. [Jenny Leonard| September 1, 2017…

Soon the Trump administration and congressional leaders will unveil their tax-reform proposal. Reports indicate the proposal will include some reductions in corporate and personal rates and the end of some tax deductions. But true reform is likely to be stymied by the usual interests, by those who see the tax code primarily as a way…