Europe has agreed to suspend tariffs on imports of live and frozen lobster from the U.S. for at least 5 years. In exchange, the U.S. will cut tariffs by 50% on some European products, including crystal glassware and cigarette lighters. While the agreement covers a tiny fraction of trans-Atlantic trade, it’s important for the American … Read More

China, the world’s top soybean buyer, is ditching expensive Brazilian purchases and replacing previously done deals with American supplies, according to people familiar with the transactions. My note: Tariffs work as leverage. Read the article.

Next time a free trader says tariffs hurt consumers, show them the facts in this article: By December 2018, washing machine prices due to tariffs were 13% higher than a year earlier. But prices have been drifting down and today they are below pre-tariff levels. Read the article.

India will stop importing more than 100 items used by its armed forces in a bid to boost local manufacturing. The ban will be implemented gradually, starting with products like sniper rifles and light-combat helicopters in December 2020 and long range land-attack cruise missiles in December 2025, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement … Read More

Canada plans to strike back against the United States with $3.6 billion of tariffs after President Trump revived a trade spat by announcing import taxes on Canadian aluminum. The White House said imports of “non-alloyed unwrought aluminum from Canada” increased 87 per cent between June 2019 and May 2020, compared to the same months one … Read More

Indonesia, the world’s biggest buyer of sugar, is striving to cut imports by boosting domestic production at a time when rising affluence is increasing demand for sugary food and drinks. The group’s white sugar output accounts for 40% of domestic production, and it hopes to reduce Indonesia’s imports as output increases and market share rises. … Read More

Arrogant Westerners assume that Chinese investors, owners of American real estate, and legions of students will be eventually overwhelmed by American popular culture, liberality, affluence, and freedom, and that they will therefore repatriate to China as subversive agents of change. Chinese state subsidies, we were told, would in the long run bankrupt China long before … Read More

Michael Bless, chief executive of Century Aluminum, one of the few remaining U.S. primary aluminum smelting companies and which lobbied for the tariffs, said the move “helps to secure continued domestic production of this vital strategic material”. During a speech at a Whirlpool Corp washing machine factory in Ohio to tout his “America First” trade … Read More

China took another step toward meeting agricultural commitments made in the phase one trade agreement with the U.S. with its biggest-ever purchase of American corn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday that exporters sold 1.937 million metric tons of corn, the third-largest deal for the grain to any destination. This purchase tops the previous … Read More

China has bought more than $1 billion worth of American cotton in the past three months. And it doesn’t even need it. The purchases — made as part of the phase one trade deal between Washington and Beijing — are hitting just as the pandemic shuts down clothing stores, decimating demand. That means China’s state-run … Read More