House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Thursday (June 4) strongly hinted that the Republican leadership plans to hold separate votes on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) and Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), as sources have long expected, though he deferred to the House Rules Committee on the specifics of how that would be…

A corporate dagger is now aimed at the heart of our democracy. It has been well concealed by the noise of battle. Washington is once again fighting about trade. Once more we see most economists lined up in favor of trade along with the global corporations and opposed by the labor unions. [Reposted from The…

Trade deals write the rules for globalization. That is, they determine who will be winners, and who won’t. [Reposted from the Huffington Post  |  Stan Sorscher  |  June 4, 2015] Under NAFTA-style trade deals, the winners have been pharmaceutical companies, big polluters, banks and companies like Nike who scour the earth for the lowest wages…

Yves here. This post is important in and of itself, and also serves as an opportunity for a reminder: Please keep up your calls to your Senators and Congressman against the Fast Track. As we’ve said: [Reposted from Gaius Publius  |  Yves Smith  |  June 5, 2015] So your calls are critical to stiffening the…

Among the 51 senators who joined together on May 22 to kill an amendment to a Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill that would have required the United States to seek enforceable rules against currency manipulation in free trade agreements were 10 who two years ago demanded exactly that from the Obama administration. The amendment was…

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, announced today that the goods and services deficit was $40.9 billion in April, down $9.7 billion from $50.6 billion in March, revised. April exports were $189.9 billion, $1.9 billion more than March exports. April imports were $230.8 billion, $7.8…

Reshoring has become a trend, not just anecdotal, as hardly a week goes by without an article about a company returning manufacturing to America in some news outlet. However, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is projected to reduce the rate of reshoring and manufacturing jobs being brought back to the U. S. Combined with the high…

WASHINGTON — The bruising battle over President Obama’s push for the power to negotiate two potentially far-reaching trade pacts will shift this week to the House, where the White House faces entrenched opposition from Democrats and the stirring of rebellion from the Republicans’ right flank. [Reposted from The New York Times  |  Jonathan Weisman  | …

You may have seen the headlines about today’s Reuters/Ipsos poll and yesterday’s Pew poll, touted as showing public support for trade deals.  A close look at the polls  reveals that they did not even ask about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Fast Track, the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA), or any other element of the controversial…

The U.S. defense industrial complex has entered a new phase of its centuries-long development, the latest characterized by globalization of supply chains and the inability of U.S. defense contractors and laboratories to drive technological change. Gone are the days when the Department of Defense could depend on American industry to provide it with high-tech components…