The “American System” devised by Henry Clay in 1812 followed Alexander Hamilton’s 1791 economic plan. Both favored tariffs, subsidies, and infrastructure development. Beijing has used the American System over the past 30 years to generate prosperity — particularly through a much larger version of subsidies, infrastructure building and industrial policy. Read the article.
“We changed the objective of trade policy away from price optimization and corporate profits and more towards jobs and workers and families,” he said. Lighthizer said that while there are “a few holdouts,” most of the brand of trade policy he and Trump championed, including prioritizing families and workers, combating China, and trying to draw … Read More
Economic models used to forecast the impact of international trade agreements have an in-built bias to favor free trade. This has led these models to underestimate repeatedly the damage done to U.S. manufacturing industry by trade agreements, dating back to NAFTA. Read the article.
“A few years ago, it was difficult to imagine China not rapidly overtaking the US as the world’s biggest economy,” said Tom Orlik, chief economist for Bloomberg Economics. “Now, that geopolitical moment will almost certainly be delayed, and it’s possible to imagine scenarios where it doesn’t happen at all.” Read the article.
“I propose doing this clearly and phasing it in over time to minimize disruptions and allow for businesses to change their current practices,” Lighthizer wrote in his new book, released June 27. The U.S. needs a new trade model. Or risk having its industrial base consistently usurped by Asia, primarily, where labor is cheaper, the … Read More
The Section 301 tariffs imposed in 2018 on Chinese imports reduced U.S. dependence on China. While U.S. imports surged by 39% between 2017 and 2022, China imports were up very slightly, and still below their 2018 peak. As a result, China fell from 21.6% of U.S. imports in 2017 to just 16.5% in 2022. Read … Read More
Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in his new book “No Trade is Free,” includes a raft of observations about foreign trading partners and counterparts he dealt with during his term. After the USTR told Modi India was “the most protectionist country in the world,” the prime minister “came up to me to shake hands” … Read More
The US is considering to end current tariff exemptions for packages valued under $800, which is seen as a move to crack down on the large amount of goods imported from China in duty-free packages. Chinese e-commerce exporters said that they are ready to face challenges brought about by the potential US move, while stressing … Read More
Inflation wasn’t pushed higher by China tariffs imposed in 2018. It was caused by record-breaking government spending during the pandemic, and supply chain snafus. The supply chain woes that began in 2020 because of the pandemic and America’s over-reliance on China for everything from Tylenol to those ubiquitous Covid-era face masks caused prices to spike. … Read More
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many countries restricted exports of medical goods like vaccines and foodstuffs. More recently, Russia’s war in Ukraine and competition between the US and its allies with China has fomented further protectionism. Trade restrictions, such as tariffs and export bans, have also proliferated in sectors including commodities and semiconductors, which are often … Read More
