Of the dozen young conservative voters Reason interviewed at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a significant majority voiced waning support for free market values, instead favoring regulation, protectionism…and globalism. Read the article.
The expanding trade conflict between the US and China is spurring a rethink of the electronics industry’s decades-old supply structures. The world’s reliance on the Asian nation became starkly clear during the Covid Zero years, when Beijing’s restrictions choked off the supply of everything from phones to cars. Read the article.
US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that she frequently finds herself fighting against the idea that the US is seeking to “decouple,” or “completely divorce” its economy from China’s, something that would be “extremely difficult” given the realities of connection. Rather, the US needs to find a way to co-exist and compete fairly with China … Read More
Donald Trump and Joe Biden endorse protectionism, while globalization was once promoted as virtuous and irreversible by previous US presidents. The global political economy has transformed drastically. China has emerged as the United States’ principal opponent, with a larger share of the global economy (18.58% in 2022) than the United States. To counter China’s high-tech … Read More
Volkswagen AG reaffirmed its commitment to an automotive plant in Xinjiang after a visit by its China chief, despite persistent concerns of human rights abuses in the country’s far western region. The German carmaker said it has no indication that workers are mistreated at the facility in the city of Urumqi, which is operated by … Read More
Steel is threatening to become the latest area of commercial conflict between the US and Mexico after a bipartisan group of US lawmakers called on the Biden administration to restore Trump-era tariffs if necessary to stem a surge in imports. A group of more than a dozen US senators, including Republican Tom Cotton of Arkansas … Read More
Mountain Pass has emerged as a flagship operation for the US push to reshape flows of critical minerals. It accounted for about 15% of the world’s mined rare earths supply in 2021. MP Materials is also planning a factory in Texas to make rare-earth magnets, which are vital in everything from smartphones to electric vehicles … Read More
Finance Minister Christian Lindner is worried that Germany’s economy is becoming too reliant on China and called for closer trade ties with democratic countries to counteract this dependency. “Dangerous development: German trade deficit with China more than doubled in 2022,” Lindner wrote on Twitter. “We should learn from the experience with Russia.” Germany “urgently” needs … Read More
BC’s lumber industry anxiously dissects US President Joe Biden’s latest “Buy American” rhetoric to better understand its implications for Canadian exporters. The BC Lumber Trade Council is concerned that President Biden now also wants to restrict the use of two-by-fours from overseas for overseas projects. x27; US federally funded infrastructure. Mr. Biden announced these expanded … Read More
Who could imagine that a small order-fulfillment Chinese company with almost no garment manufacturing experience would become the world’s largest fast fashion retailer in less than two decades? Shein’s massive success is no accident and not just the result of a more innovative business model. The company’s exponential growth depends on the Chinese Communist Party … Read More
