There was an extraordinary development in Congress this week that got little attention. More than 100 Democrats have signed on as original cosponsors to legislation that could well start a major trade war. The bill effectively blocks all future U.S. trade negotiations, and could lead to retaliation by many of our major trading partners. And while it’s tempting to say that Barack Obama would not | Read More »
Remember how having a bunch of brilliant grown-ups in the White House was going to restore our tattered relations with key allies? And how the ‘stimulus’ bill would create millions of jobs here in the United States? Instead, the bill has sparked a trade war with Canada – one that will get worse if it is not addressed. And while the Obama team can offer | Read More »
U.S. exporters are currently trying to figure out how to continue to sell products to Mexico — our third-largest trading partner — notwithstanding tariffs imposed against them because the U.S. has violated NAFTA. It appears that a whole new range of companies may soon face the same problem, since the U.S. has also violated our NAFTA obligations toward our largest trading partner — Canada: International | Read More »
Barack Obama campaigned on a promise of ‘restoring good relations’ with key US partners, but it’s hard to tell from the way he’s governed so far. From evicting the bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, to sacrificing East European allies for better relations with Russia and Iran, to starting trade wars with Canada and Mexico, Obama has done nothing but go renege on | Read More »
Mexico made it official today, retaliating against the NAFTA violation approved by Congress and signed into law by President Obama last week: Looking to avoid a trade war with Mexico, the White House Monday called for legislation that would create a new program to allow Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. The initial cross-border trucking project was terminated as part of the omnibus spending bill | Read More »
I’ve written before about a dangerous provision of the Omnibus appropriations legislation now under consideration in the Senate. The bill violates the U.S. commitment under NAFTA to allow Mexican trucking companies to operate in the U.S., so long as they meet all the standards to which U.S. companies and trucks are held. If Obama signs this measure into law, Mexico will have the right to | Read More »
Barack Obama and the Democrats swept to power on a promise of doing more to restore good relations with key trading partners. To that end we’re selling Eastern Europe out to Russia in a vain attempt to deter Iranian nuclear ambitions, and we’re giving UK Prime Minister copies of Toy Story. And when it comes to treaty compliance, Congressional Democrats are eager to stiff Mexico, | Read More »
MSNBC considers an interesting question: is card check the only way to save the UAW? One advantage the Honda and Hyundai plants in Alabama have over the General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford plants in Michigan is lower labor costs. That’s because, in part, auto workers in Michigan are represented by the UAW and workers in Alabama aren’t. This cost differential has been a theme of | Read More »
If nothing else, the Great Depression proved very instructive. Plenty of commentators and analysts learned one of its important lessons: protectionist policies are only likely to deepen and worsen an economic slowdown. One person who’s given no indication that he’s learned the lesson is Barack Obama, but we can at least hope that his protectionist talk was nothing more than campaign rhetoric. That said, it | Read More »
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