"Words that make actions speak louder."
This is semi-live blogging (notes corrected later) and there is a lot, so I will highlight the most important points. I attended the Making It In America breakout session at the America’s Future Now conference this morning. Scott Paul of the Alliance for American Manufacturing moderated the session and panelists were Mark Melman pollster Kate […]
The US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue has concluded. It is remarkable for two countries to engage in a dialog such as this, and efforts like this to constructively manage differences can both help keep conflict from arising and help both countries achieve economic success. Bravo! But China has its interests and we have ours, and […]
Today I was able to conduct a short webcam interview with Scott Paul, Executive Director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The occasion is this week’s Us-China Strategic and Economic Dialog taking place in Beijing. This dialog is a series of meetings between top-level officials of both governments on a number of issues. Secretaries Geithner […]
Is China’s industrial policy a “bigger” concern than their currency manipulation? That depends on what you think the meaning of “is” is. But China’s currency manipulation and trade barriers are against trade rules, while having an industrial policy is just smart. A national industrial policy helps a country’s businesses to be more competitive in the […]
This morning I watched a live webcast of a Senate hearing, titled, Senate Banking Subcommittee on Economic Policy to Examine Effect of China Currency Practices on American Manufacturing. The details of the hearing as well as an archive of the webcast are available at this link. The hearing was discussing the Graham-Schumer bill that would […]
Today the Senate Banking Committee is holding a hearing to examine “the impact of China’s exchange rate practices on U.S. manufacturing” Many experts will testify. I offer some pictures that might help. 1. Is China manipulating its currency? Yes: Source: Yuan. Broad Dollar Index (Federal Reserve’s weighted average of exchange values of U.S. dollar against […]
The Alliance for American Manufacturing is a partnership of manufacturers like US Steel and their workers, represented by the United Steelworkers. They have sent a letter asking Commerce Secretary Locke to initiate investigations and use the currency discrepancy in complaints on specific imported products. The background is that on March 31 a group of aluminum […]
Donald Trump knows a few things about making money. The first step: You need a job. But a job is something more than 17 million of America’s workers don’t have. In a recent CNN interview, Trump says one big way this country can create jobs is by heavily taxing China’s exports, which […]
Where I previously wrote that some things were getting worse more slowly, the trade deficit is just getting worse again. The US Trade Deficit Widened in February by 7.4 percent over the previous month, to $39.7 billion. “Imports surged 1.7 percent for the month. Exports did not keep pace, climbing 0.2 percent in February.” The […]
The Obama administration appears to have backed off from pressuring China to revalue its currency, for now, likely in exchange for diplomatic concessions including helping to pressure Iran on nukes. Chinese currency revaluation is about jobs, because currently China enjoys a competitive head start of up to 40% lower prices because they are keeping their […]