Trump Administration Considers Change in Calculating U.S. Trade Deficit

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is considering changing the way it calculates U.S. trade deficits, a shift that would make the country’s trade gap appear larger than it had in past years, according to people involved in the discussions. [WILLIAM MAULDIN and DEVLIN BARRETT | February 19, 2017 |Wall Street Journal] The leading idea under consideration would exclude from U.S.…

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As Tax Debate Heats Up, Lawmakers Struggle to Think of a Plan B

WASHINGTON—An uncomfortable question looms over the tax debate in Congress: What’s Plan B? [Richard Rubin| February 17, 2017 |Wall Street Journal] Border adjustment, a pillar of House Republicans’ tax proposal, is taking a beating. Big retailers are lobbying aggressively against the concept, which would tax imports and exempt exports. Senate Republicans have expressed views ranging from skepticism…

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Trump delays on currency manipulation action

Donald Trump has a reputation for doing as president what he said he’d do when he was a candidate, but there’s one promise he has conspicuously dropped.  [Evelyn Cheng| February 15, 2017 |CNBC] Trump during the campaign called China “the single greatest currency manipulator that’s ever been on this planet,” and said he would make labeling China a…

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COOL FIGHT SHIFTS BACK TO THE HEARTLAND

Emboldened by Trump’s pledge to “buy American,” cattle ranchers across the country are trying to re-stoke the fires around country-of-origin labeling, lobbying for state legislation to take the place of defeated federal rules, reports Brent Griffiths for Pro Agriculture. The latest legislative effort is South Dakota Senate Bill 135 , a measure supported by the state’s Stockgrowers…

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