In The News

April 13, 2018
One of President Donald Trump’s early acts in office was to withdraw the United States from Trans Pacific Partnership – a trade pact for Pacific Rim nations. The other 11 nations, led by Japan, concluded the negotiation without the United States and with some US-supported terms on investment and intellectual property. “Republican senators met with Trump on Thursday and he told them that he has...
Julian Lindley-French April 11, 2018
Much of the concern and discussions on Brexit centers around politics and trade, but security is another priority, maintains Julian Lindley-French. European security depends on close cooperation, especially on intelligence-gathering. “Britain's security, and by extension that of Europe, will be profoundly weakened if the former is not also fully plugged into the latter,” Lindley-French...
Doug Palmer April 10, 2018
After demanding concessions from allies by imposing steel and aluminum tariffs in March, US President Donald Trump has instigated a trade war with China without a strong global coalition for support. Analysts suggest that China, an authoritarian regime lacking in democratic or free market oversight, can move more nimbly and undergo less political backlash on the home front if a full-blown trade...
Shawn Donnan and Yuan Yang April 4, 2018
Trade adds jobs and profits, and tariffs increase prices, reducing jobs and profits. Hours after the Trump administration announced a 25 percent tariff on 1,333 Chinese products including robots and locomotives, China responded with tariffs on 106 products imported from the United States. The United States claims decades of intellectual property theft from China, and China points to US violations...
Yukon Huang March 28, 2018
The Trump administration was warned about the economic and political consequences of protectionist measures like tariffs. Analysts point out that tariffs are illogical, and will fail to reduce the US trade deficit with China or boost jobs. The trade deficit and the jobs will shift to other countries. “It is a mistake to assume that trade is a bilateral issue when it is multilateral, especially in...
Neil Irwin March 28, 2018
US voters responded to promises of tariffs, jobs and protectionism during the 2016 presidential campaign and spurred a backlash to globalization: “It is coming after the major costs of globalization have already been borne,” explains Neil Irwin for the New York Times. “And it comes just as billions of people who have become integrated into the global economy over the last three decades are...
Bob Davis March 23, 2018
“President Donald Trump sought to rewrite the rules of global trade on Thursday with a long-pledged trade offensive against China,” writes Bob Davis for the Wall Street Journal. “The administration’s actions, including a threat of tariffs on $60 billion of imports and tighter restrictions on acquisitions and technology transfers, came in response to what it claimed were Chinese efforts to obtain...