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
The Biden administration’s recent action to raise tariffs on strategic goods imported from China has raised both praise and sharp critiques. Most critiques fall into two categories, with some lamenting the tariffs as an affront to the supposed free-trade ethos of the past, arguing that tariffs would lead to higher inflation or higher prices, or … Read More
One after another, Latin American nations are following in the footsteps of the US and Europe by imposing prohibitive tariffs on Chinese imports — a strain in what’s been an otherwise cozy relationship. Mexico, Chile and Brazil have hiked — and in some cases more than doubled — duties on steel products from China over … Read More
President Biden’s decision last week to raise tariffs on roughly $18 billion of goods from China has revived a long-running debate in economics over who ultimately pays such tariffs. The topic, usually consigned to the academy, is spilling onto the presidential campaign trail, as President Biden and rival Donald Trump jockey over trade policy. With … Read More
Canada is seeing a surge of imports of Chinese-made EVs, particularly Tesla models made in Shanghai. The number of cars arriving from China at the port of Vancouver rose more than fivefold last year, to 44,400, after Elon Musk’s automaker started shipping Model Y vehicles made there. The situation is drawing howls of protest from … Read More
Those imports drove some American factories out of business, and they cost more than a million workers their jobs. Discount stores and online retailers, like Walmart and Amazon, flourished selling low-cost goods made overseas. But voters rebelled. Stung by shuttered factories, cratered industries and prolonged wage stagnation, Americans in 2016 elected a president who vowed … Read More
Chinese experts on Saturday urged Canadian politicians to maintain strategic sobriety and insist on an independent economic policy following media reports saying that Canada is considering whether to impose new tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), even though US tariff hikes on Chinese EVs have been criticized for disrupting market competition and global industrial chains. … Read More
The timing and strategic significance of these tariffs are critical. To address U.S.-China relations effectively, the U.S. needs to shift from a reactive to a proactive approach, leveraging its strengths creatively. During a recent Beijing visit, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China about supplying critical components to Russia for weapons production, saying that if … Read More
Chinese-built container cranes dominate the global port market, with ZPMC controlling a market share of 80%-plus for the past 20 years, and terminal managers are said to be increasingly concerned about new equipment procurement, given the lack of manufacturing capacity elsewhere in the world. Amid concerns among US security analysts that some China-manufactured cranes might … Read More
