Some conflate foreign purchases of these assets with “investment,” but less than 5 percent of foreign direct “investment” goes toward building new American industrial capacity. The other 95 percent goes toward acquiring Treasury bonds (U.S. government debt) or stocks, bonds, and real estate from our private sector. Before the 1970s, foreigners held only 5 percent … Read More
What an utterly ridiculous thing to say that “trade protectionism helps nobody.” Not one person? Not one job was ever saved by U.S. protective tariffs? Not one American factory avoided closing and moving overseas? This only reinforces my earlier point that free traders are the most bereft-of-integrity academic thinkers in the U.S. today. Read the … Read More
Chinese-owned companies’ global market share in solar products is more than 80 percent. The current environment, if left unaddressed, threatens America’s ambitions of building a domestic solar manufacturing supply chain and mitigating the risk of an overreliance on Chinese solar. A recent analysis by the CPA Economics Team warned that the U.S. solar industry is … Read More
Longi Green Energy Technology Co. began gradually winding down activity at a plant in Malaysia this week after halting all five production lines at a facility in Vietnam the week before, Chinese trade publication Arfcg.com reported Tuesday. Instead of capturing a growing market, the new supply has overwhelmed demand, prompting US and European officials to … Read More
The USTR is inviting the public to comment on the proposed modifications included in its notice of May 28, 2024. The public can submit comments on the notice until June 28, 2024, through the USTR Comment Portal. The list of questions on which the USTR is seeking comments includes: The effectiveness of the proposed modifications … Read More
Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said that the Biden administration’s plan to quadruple tariffs on imported Chinese electric vehicles to over 100% in August is crucial to the health of the U.S. auto sector. “We need to have that industry here,” Granholm said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday. “If we didn’t do that, … Read More
China is taking its domestic economic problems and exporting them to the rest of the world, the US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said, adding this strengthens the resolve of America and its partners to stand together. “China is not going to win the good neighbor award,” Emanuel said in a Bloomberg TV interview Tuesday. “There’s nobody … Read More
Americans used to pride themselves, open market, and free trade, and many still do today. But now it seems that US policy makers are increasingly deviating from the path, partly fueled by the the resurgence of populism at home. From the “America First” policy to the “Buy America” agenda, the country does not even bother … Read More
During President Donald Trump’s first term, economists wrongly predicted disastrous inflation from increased tariffs. Instead, inflation averaged just 1.9 percent while real wages rose. While inflation has increased significantly in recent years — with the Consumer Price Index now up nearly 20 percent — this has been driven largely by the Covid pandemic, supply-chain shortages … Read More
“Trade policy has long followed the trickle-down approach that has been so common over the past four decades. But if we recognize that deferring to the market has its limits in ensuring that domestic economic policy benefits working people, we must also recognize its limits to do the same when it comes to trade,” Tai … Read More
