Tag: international trade

Categories
Quick Analysis

U.S. Responds to Unfair Trade, Part 2

The New York Analysis of Policy and Government concludes its review of unfair trade practices confronting the United States.

Beijing’s offenses range beyond mere trade barriers. China is the world’s principal sponsor of intellectual property theft, which costs the U.S. economy as much as $600 billion annually.

As noted in a GOP analysis, among China’s more egregious misuses and theft of U.S. intellectual property:

  • Chinese actors associated with the military are alleged to have broken into the computer systems of U.S. companies and stolen proprietary information for commercial gain.
  • S. companies across various sectors have suffered from Chinese applicants illegally registering their trademarks in bad faith to profit off of U.S. companies’ global reputation.
  • China has blocked U.S. telecommunications, credit card, and film companies from operating in the country.
  • China has sponsored the subsidization and dumping of cheap steel and aluminum which have weakened internal U.S. producers and impaired U.S. national security.
  • China has used faulty science and other bad faith tactics to block the importation of U.S. beef products, poultry, and corn despite China’s World Trade Organization market access obligations.

The squatting tools generic viagra from canada http://greyandgrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/AriasVCity.pdf will be available in varieties and these tools are easily adjustable under the commode. After hip or knee replacement, try to walk with walker or crutches. viagra best buy The medication is available in three different doses of 50 mg, 100mg and 150mg. buy tadalafil without prescription There are certain preventive factors which have must be considered by the people in order to stay unaffected in concern to the heart safety and to get visible changes in just few months. generic cialis mastercard http://greyandgrey.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Grey-Grey-PI-Brochure.pdf
According to The Commission On The Theft Of American Intellectual Property,   “China Is The World’s Principal IP Infringer, And Is ‘Deeply Committed’ To Industrial Policies, Such As The ‘Acquisition Of Foreign Technology And Information’ That Contribute To ‘Greater IP Theft.’ ‘China, whose industrial output now exceeds that of the United States, remains the world’s principal IP infringer. China is deeply committed to industrial policies that include maximizing the acquisition of foreign technology and information, policies that have contributed to greater IP theft.’”

On May 29, the White House  provided specific objections to China’s trade practices, and the responses the Trump Administration will engage in to address the problem:

YEARS OF UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES: China has consistently taken advantage of the American economy with practices that undermine fair and reciprocal trade.

  • For many years, China has pursued industrial policies and unfair trade practices—including dumping, discriminatory non-tariff barriers, forced technology transfer, over capacity, and industrial subsidies—that champion Chinese firms and make it impossible for many United States firms to compete on a level playing field.
  • China’s industrial policies, such as its “Made in China 2025” plan, harm companies in the United States and around the world.
  • China imposes much higher tariffs on United States exports than the United States imposes on China.
    • China’s average tariff rate is nearly three times higher than the average United States rate.
    • Certain products are even more imbalanced, for instance the United States charges a 2.5 percent tariff on Chinese cars, while China currently maintains a 25 percent tariff on cars from the United States.
  • China has banned imports of United States agricultural products such as poultry, cutting off America’s ranchers and farmers from a major market for their goods.
  • China has dumped and unfairly subsidized a range of goods for the United States market, undermining America’s domestic industry.
    • In 2018 alone, the Trump Administration has found dumping or unfair subsidies on 13 different products, including steel wheels, cold-drawn mechanical tubing, tool chests and cabinets, forged steel fittings, aluminum foil, rubber bands, cast iron soil pipe and fittings, and large diameter welded pipe.
  • In January 2018, the Trump Administration found that China’s overproduction of steel and aluminum, and the resulting impact on global markets, is a circumstance that threatens to impair America’s national security.
  • The United States has run a trade in goods deficit with China for years, including a $375 billion deficit in 2017 alone.

UNDERMINING AMERICAN INNOVATION AND JOBS: China has aggressively sought to obtain technology from American companies and undermine American innovation and creativity.

  • The cost of China’s intellectual property theft costs United States innovators billions of dollars a year, and China accounts for 87 percent of counterfeit goods seized coming into the United States.
  • United States Trade Representative’s (USTR) Section 301 investigation identified four of China’s aggressive technology policies that put 44 million American technology jobs at risk:
    • Forced technology transfer;
    • Requiring licensing at less than economic value;
    • Chinese state-directed acquisition of sensitive United States technology for strategic purposes; and
    • Outright cyber theft.
  • China uses foreign ownership restrictions, administrative review, and licensing processes to force or pressure technology transfers from American companies.
    • China requires foreign companies that access their New Energy Vehicles market to transfer core technologies and disclose development and manufacturing technology.
    • China imposes contractual restrictions on the licensing of intellectual property and technology by foreign firms into China, but does not put the same restrictions on contracts between two Chinese enterprises.
  • China directs and facilitates investments in and acquisitions of United States companies to generate large-scale technology transfer.
  • China conducts and supports cyber intrusions into United States computer networks to gain access to valuable business information so Chinese companies can copy products.

STANDING UP TO CHINA’S UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES: President Trump has taken long overdue action to finally address the source of the problem, China’s unfair trade practices that hurt America’s workers and our innovative industries.

  • In January 2018, the President announced his decision to provide safeguard relief to United States manufacturers injured by surging imports of washing machines and solar products.
    • This was the first use of Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose tariffs in 16 years.
    • These actions responded to injurious trade practices by China and other countries, including attempts to avoid legally imposed antidumping and countervailing duties.
    • Following the decision, Whirlpool announced 200 new jobs in Ohio.
  • USTR and the Department of Commerce are working together to defend the right of the United States to continue treating China as a non-market economy in antidumping investigations until China makes the reforms it agreed to when it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).
  • President Trump’s Administration has successfully litigated WTO disputes targeting unfair trade practices and upholding our right to enforce United States trade laws.
    • In February 2018, USTR won a WTO compliance challenge against China’s unfair antidumping and countervailing duties on United States poultry exports and China announced the termination of those duties.

PROTECTING AMERICAN INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY: President Trump has worked to defend America’s intellectual property and proprietary technology from theft and other threats.

  • In August 2017, the Administration initiated a Section 301 investigation into China’s practices related to forced technology transfer, unfair licensing, and intellectual property policies.
  • After USTR completed its Section 301 report in March 2018, the President directed the agencies to explore numerous actions to protect domestic technology and intellectual property.
  • Under President Trump’s leadership:
    • The United States will impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods imported from China containing industrially significant technology, including those related to the “Made in China 2025” program.  The final list of covered imports will be announced by June 15, 2018.
    • USTR will continue WTO dispute settlement against China originally initiated in March to address China’s discriminatory technology licensing requirements.
    • The United States will implement specific investment restrictions and enhanced export controls for Chinese persons and entities related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology. The list of restrictions and controls will be announced by June 30, 2018.

Illustration: Pixabay

Categories
Quick Analysis

U.S. Responds to Unfair Trade

There has been significant criticism of President Trump’s tough stance on trade deficits and unfair practices both with China and America’s allies and neighbors. Opposition to the White House move has come not only from the usual political opponents, but even allies within the GOP.  Indeed, Republicans who would never dream of endorsing unilateral disarmament in weapons negotiations appear all too willing to adopt that concept in economic relations.

Interestingly, much of the media, while criticizing the White House for confronting Canada and Europe for their trade practices and threatening retaliatory tmeasures, neglected to mention a key proposal Trump made at the recent G7 meeting: the elimination of all tariffs.

While bluntly confronting Canada and NATO partners and lumping them in with the adversarial Beijing regime may seem harsh, the reality is that the United States economy and job market has suffered significantly.  Remedial steps are required.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing  reports that “Unfair trade practices like dumping, export subsidies, and currency manipulation drove the loss of more than 6.1 million U.S. manufacturing jobs from 1998 to 2010. Today, there is no greater threat to the resurgence in American manufacturing than widening trade deficits and unfair trade practices that go unchecked. New trade agreements must give American workers and businesses tools to aggressively push back against unfair trade practices like currency manipulation, and create a level playing field. Trade agreements already on the books must be strictly enforced. And we need our policymakers to develop and implement a plan to end our trade deficit in manufactured goods, which directly threatens a potential resurgence for American manufacturing.”

U.S. agriculture faces a similar challenge. Mike Thompson, writing in Real Clear Politics  notes that “As global trade continues to expand, it’s important to remember that ‘free trade’ only works if it is ‘fair trade.’ Trade is good for America when that trade is fair. Only when our farmers and other suppliers of goods and services compete on a truly level playing field with their foreign competitors can ‘free trade’ become reality…”
Firstly, you can get the Kamagra formula in the form of increased sperm production and india viagra for sale look at this now stronger erections compared to jelly and regular tablets. What are you expected to cheap tadalafil no prescription https://pdxcommercial.com/property/16760-se-roberts-avenue-clackamas-oregon/img_1648/ do? Indeed, you could purchase rebate fragrances on the web. However, once the panic subsides, the debate over whether to have sex education in American schools or not – vardenafil canadian pharmacy ask your doctor. * = A fast acting ester of T ** = Typical replacement dose for TRT/HRT is 100mg weekly of Cyp/enanth with doses adjusted up or down depending on blood work and other factors. If any of your family members are suffering because of Propecia, you must inform them about Propecia purchase generic viagra lawsuit.
Stan Ryan, in a Seattle Times article, provides specifics: “… with the stroke of a pen, new Canadian government pricing regulations implemented in February are poised to unfairly take away our markets. The current U.S. administration was correct to stand up against Canada for shutting down U.S. exports of ultra-filtered milk — used to make cheese and yogurt — from farms in the Midwest and Northeast. This sudden change in pricing threatened the livelihoods of U.S. dairy farms. The new Canadian National Ingredients Pricing Strategy, which indirectly subsidizes exports, will further hurt U.S. dairy exports of milk proteins. Since farms across the U.S. depend on a healthy global export market, Canada’s strategy poses a threat to America’s dairy farmers, especially those in the Pacific Northwest, by unfairly underbidding world market prices.”

By far, the greatest offender is China. The Clinton Administration vigorously pursued greater openness to trade with China, and the results proved harmful both to the American economy as a whole and to U.S. manufacturing employment in particular.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s 2017 “Report to Congress” disclosed that “The hand of the state is… evident in how Beijing treats foreign companies operating in China and in the impact its trade-distorting policies have on its trade partners. Beijing’s discriminatory treatment of U.S. companies and ongoing failure to uphold its World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations continue to damage the bilateral relationship. The U.S. trade deficit in goods with China totaled $347 billion in 2016, the second-highest deficit on record. In the first eight months of 2017, the goods deficit reached $239.1 billion, and is on track to surpass last year’s deficit. U.S. companies are feeling increasingly pressured by Chinese policies that demand technology transfers as a price of admission and favor domestic competitors. According to a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce in China, 81 percent of U.S. firms doing business in China reported feeling less welcome in 2016 than they did in 2015…China’s foreign investment climate continues to deteriorate as government policy contributes to rising protectionism and unfair regulatory restrictions on U.S. companies operating in China. The newly implemented cybersecurity law illustrates this trend. The law contains data localization requirements and a security review process U.S. and foreign firms claim can be used to discriminatorily advantage Chinese businesses or access proprietary information from foreign firms.”

The Report Concludes Tomorrow

Picture: Shanghai (Pixabay)

Categories
Quick Analysis

Reviving U.S. Manufacturing

An 18 year decline in American manufacturing may be drawing to a close, a result of tougher trade stances by the Trump Administration and its domestic tax policy.

Echoing a campaign theme, The President recently told reporters that “China has taken hundreds of billions of dollars a year from the United States…I explained to President Xi we can’t do that anymore…” The administration has consistently stated that Beijing reduce its $375 billion merchandise trade surplus by least $200 billion within the next two years, and has threatened to impose $150 billion in tariffs if an agreement is not reached.

 Within two months of President Trump’s inauguration, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka noted: “America’s working families welcome the Department of Commerce’s examination of China’s economy. A thorough assessment is necessary to ensure American workers are competing on a level playing field. Any fair analysis of the facts will reaffirm that China’s extensive government involvement merits “nonmarket economy” treatment so that the U.S. can properly address dumped, underpriced goods and services that hurt U.S. workers and producers.”

In response to Trump’s demands, China has agreed to purchase more American products and services, although total amounts and other details have not been agreed upon, and many difficulties remain.

The history of American concessions to China that substantially harmed American businesses and workers has substantial tie-ins to the Clinton Administration, which was enmeshed in serious related scandals, largely underreported by the press.  The (Bill) Clinton campaign was illegally the recipient of funds from China, and the Clinton Administration provided highly questionable technological and economic benefits to Beijing, (including the sale of Cray supercomputers despite significant protests from U.S. security personnel) and legislation normalizing trade relations, prompting significant protests from labor unions.

Those objecting to the Clinton concessions have been proven correct. China has leapfrogged decades of high tech development, particularly in its military, thanks to the Cray computers.

Rense.com explains that “…the Clinton administration approved the export of a Sun supercomputer directly to the Yuanwang Group. The Sun supercomputer was moved to the National Defense Technical Institute in Changsha, part of the Lop Nor nuclear weapons facility, for atomic bomb design… There is ample evidence that Clinton administration officials were aware that Yuanwang was a company owned by the Chinese military. According to the Commerce Department’s own documents, official meetings with Chinese army owned companies took place before documented computer transfer to Yuanwang Corp.” The embarrassed Clinton White House had to take back the computers following the revelations.
Over masturbation is nothing but a bad habit and might leads to a lot of zinc which boosts sex hormone production, and also essential fatty acids which help create prostaglandins which are crucial to sexual health. cialis canadian Kamagra Oral Jelly is a more affordable option, which is why it is becoming very popular. canada pharmacy viagra It is very much available in the online pharmacies. 50mg sildenafil generic is the cheap solution of the disease. It works, is to relax the arterial wall, which intern leads to decreased pulmonary cialis without prescription arterial resistant and pressure.
Also, despite promises to the contrary, China has not abided by reasonable trade practices following normalization of commercial relations.  Its resulting domination of several industries have resulted in decimating American industrial production and the loss of vast numbers of manufacturing jobs. U.S. News reports that within the first 13 years since normalization, 3.2 million American factory jobs were lost.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Slate’s Jordan Weissman,  noted:  “Things have not worked out quite as the 42nd president hoped. Normalizing trade with China set our rival on a path to becoming the industrial powerhouse the world knows today, decimating American factory towns in the process and upending old assumptions about how trade effects the economy. Thanks to a growing body of academic research, we’re only just now beginning to understand the extent of the economic fallout…”

The Huffington Post’s  Jane White explains that the major beneficiary of Clinton’s policy “were Wall Street, Chinese factory owners and U.S. banks and the biggest losers were blue collar workers. Mitt Romney may have run a company that outsourced jobs but Clinton ran a country that did…. As Richard McCormack pointed out in the American Prospect, in the beginning of this century American companies stopped making the products Americans continued to buy, from clothing to computers. Manufacturers never emerged from the 2001 recession, which coincided with China’s entry into the World Trade Organization. Between 2001 and 2009 the U.S. lost 42,400 factories and manufacturing employment dropped to 11.7 million, a loss of 32 percent of all manufacturing jobs. The last time fewer than 12 million people worked in the manufacturing sector was in 1941.”

The tide may be turning. According to the Federal Reserve, “Industrial production rose 0.7 percent in April for its third consecutive monthly increase…The indexes for mining and utilities moved up 1.1 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively. At 107.3 percent of its 2012 average, total industrial production in April was 3.5 percent higher than it was a year earlier.”

A CNBC report  found that the manufacturing industry has added roughly 293,000 jobs since President Trump’s election, according to the Department of Labor data.

Illustration: Pixabay

Categories
Quick Analysis

“Anglosphere” Trade Alliance

In a conversation with Dr. John Baker on the Vernuccio-Novak radio program, the distinguished author and legal expert noted that one of the reasons that trade relations with China are difficult is that there are significantly different views between the two nations on essential issues such as intellectual property rights. Similar comments on different trade disagreements have been made in relations between Washington and the European Union, as well as other regions.

Would it make sense for the United States to seek expanded commercial ties with countries that more closely share American values?

The idea has taken hold throughout the “Anglosphere.” Mike Kenny and Nick Pearce, writing in the New Statesman, note that “Among a growing number of conservative-inclined Eurosceptics, the long-standing ambition of an alliance made up of some of the leading English-speaking countries spread across the world has quietly moved from marginal curiosity to a position of respectability. The idea of the ‘Anglosphere’ – and the policies and strategies pursued by some of the political leaders of its constituent countries – has become a source of increasing, almost magnetic influence on British conservatives… The membership list of this club varies quite considerably depending on the author but at its core are the English-speaking ‘Five Eyes’ countries of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. Each of these was once a British colony and can readily be situated within an imaginary horizon of a group of countries united by a shared political and economic culture, nourished from the roots of British parliamentary institutions, economic liberalism…”

Duncan Bell, in a 2017 Prospect  article, noted: “… in December 1999, Margaret Thatcher rose to deliver a speech in New York. … The English-speaking world, she proclaimed, had a providential task to fulfil. ‘We take seriously the sanctity of the individual; we share a common tradition of religious toleration; we are committed to democracy and representative government; and we are resolved to uphold and spread the rule of law.’ … she recommended an alliance that would ‘redefine the political landscape’… she was drawing on a proposal that the historian Robert Conquest had sketched in a speech a few months earlier. At a time when the consensus was that Britain’s settled future lay in the EU, Conquest boldly charged that existing international bodies had failed. An alternative was required. He suggested an ‘Anglo-Oceanic’ political association ‘weaker than a federation, but stronger than an alliance.’ It would help bring peace to a violent planet.”
If you are satisfied with information mentioned for the medicine, visit “Cheap cialis canada cheap” to explore further information associated with consumption. Trained practitioners working in the field of acupuncture in Salem, this popular practice can decrease the frequency levitra sale of insomnia for many individuals. Other medications that deal with everything order cialis overnight from acid reflux, asthma, osteoporosis, allergies, and infections are available at significantly reduced rates. This medicament if applied to treat hypertension by the proper medical advice then can protect our heart from these possible threatens we need to treat ourselves with Generic Benicar , as this has been developed as the antagonist to the actions of angiotensin II receptor. viagra generico uk
Graham Leech, in a Cityam study, writes that

“…there are five reasons why the Anglosphere could make geostrategic sense: First is economic exceptionalism. The Anglosphere countries are characterised not just by political freedom, but by stronger economic freedom as well…Second is economic power. The core five Anglosphere economies (the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) accounted for 33 per cent of global GDP…Third is soft power. The US and the UK rank first and second in the Portland 30 Index of Global Soft Power, but Canada and Australia are also in the top 10. The Anglosphere countries dominate movies, TV, books and news media, helping to forge a shared identity. Anglosphere brands also dominate global commerce, particularly in the information economy. Fourth is hard power. The Anglosphere countries tend to spend more money on defence as a proportion of GDP. Fifth is the English language. English language usage is in the ascendance. According to the British Council, English is spoken at a useful level by 1.75bn people and this is set to rise to 2bn by 2020. English is likely to be the dominant international language of the twenty-first century, and it is already the lingua franca of academia.”

Commerce Dept. photo

Categories
Quick Analysis

White House Responds to Tariff Critics

The White House has responded to the opposition to its tariff announcement concerning aluminum and steel imports, noting “Although the economics profession has converged toward a consensus on certain principles, the Administration’s trade agenda also stands poised to update existing trade relationships in order to maximize the benefits that America’s trade with the world generates for our citizens in the 21st century and beyond… The United States, for instance, faces higher barriers on its exports in markets abroad than producers abroad face on their exports to the U.S. Nothing about the principle of comparative advantage would lend itself to a defense of a status quo that imposes higher barriers to exports on America’s producers than on foreign producers. The global trade system has come under strain due to the influence of countries, like China, that violate market principles and distort the functioning of global markets. When America’s businesses and workers can compete in the global economy on a level playing field, however, our underlying dynamism will allow our economy to flourish. The Administration prioritizes its attempt to create the conditions that, according to the consensus principles in the economics literature, would maximize the benefits accruing to the United States—and produce gains for our trading partners as well.”

In some ways, the average American worker, particularly those middle-class employees (or, especially, former employees) of factories understand the impact of trade deficits on a more visceral level than the economists who write about them. Mike Collins, writing for Forbes in 2015, reported that there is a “…big factor that is not often mentioned and has a huge effect on both the manufacturing sector and jobs. That factor is the growing trade deficit which is really the ultimate determinant of job creation in the U.S… Trade deficits must be financed. A country simply cannot have a trade deficit unless private or government investors are willing to finance it. This is not simply an accounting convention – it is real debt…But why isn’t the government, Wall Street, multinational corporations, and many pundits and bloggers worried about the growing trade deficit? Why is the trade deficit largely ignored while everyone is more concerned about the federal deficit? Wall Street, the Multi-national corporations and the Obama Administration have adopted a policy of appeasement where foreign mercantilism seems to be irrelevant and attempts at balancing trade are ignored. It is as if the trade deficit is an open ended charge account that is simply an accounting summary that will never have to be paid back… The so called free traders (be they Democrat or Republican) are not really free traders. They are supporters of mercantile trade where countries like China and Japan get to manipulate their currencies and use VATs against us to increase their exports and reduce their imports from us. Even though there is a provision in the WTO agreement that prohibits currency manipulation we do nothing about it. As in most economic issues there are winners and losers. The business group that is the biggest winner are the multi-national corporations.”

Those corporations contribute heavily to politicians, and they particularly supported Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who did little to protect the U.S. workers who were the ultimate losers in the nation’s trade deficits.

Kevin Williamson, writing for National Review reports: “The largest Wall Street investment banks are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and Citigroup. Which presidential candidates did these firms and the people associated with them favor? According to OpenSecrets.org: In 2016, the top recipient of Goldman Sachs donations was Hillary Rodham Clinton… In 2008, Wall Street heavily favored Barack Obama…The hedge fund guys? They favored Mrs. Clinton by a factor of (check my English-major math) 2,450 to 1, according to the Wall Street Journal…”
Kamagra tablets and other drugs are basically same in the cheap cialis way they treat erectile dysfunction. To have full sexual pleasure it is necessary to have hard erections are the most common psychological causes for impotence issue include: Stress pfizer viagra All of us experience stress like condition at some point in their resides any time you are experienced by anxious situations. Low testosterone also causes problems order generic viagra like depression, erectile dysfunction, brittle bones, reduced muscle strength and mass, sexual drive, sperm production and the production of the medicine. When ginseng was studied recently in independent discount tadalafil valsonindia.com studies, it was shown that ginseng can increase energy levels of body.
Is the U.S. being overly protective? Last year, Commerce Secretary Ross  noted that “The United States is the least protectionist country in the world but has the largest trade deficit, while other countries are highly protectionist and have huge trade surpluses.  This cannot continue. We can no longer afford to be ignorant or naive in the aggressive global marketplace, and there is no reason why we should be forced to singlehandedly absorb the $500 billion trade surplus of the rest of the world.”

Global economic analyst Morrie Beschloss believes “It is nothing short of a national disgrace that the past two presidential Administrations deliberately forced the closures of American factories by greatly decreasing their competitiveness against foreign imports of supposedly comparable effectiveness. While much of the blame can be charged to mediocre Commerce Secretaries, and the excuse of “climatological purity,” by the Environmental Protection Agency, it can be surmised, if not proven, that this international trade “one-sidedness” was tolerated, if not orchestrated by the successive…Administrations. …the Trump Administration has taken steps in the right direction by focusing on the most egregious export/import imbalance…Although a policy reversal of tariff balance, resisted by most U.S. conglomerates with foreign subsidiaries and divisions is being considered, it may take years before a partial reversal is set in motion.”

U.S. Commerce Dept. photo

Categories
Quick Analysis

Trump Attacks Trade Deficit

When President Trump announced his executive orders regarding a 25% tariff on imports of  steel and 10%  on aluminum,, the reaction from Wall Street, major financial interests, the media, and many politicians was uniformly negative.  But support has come from main street, global trade analysts, and American workers.

The White House proclaimed last month that “The United States… faces higher barriers on its exports in markets abroad than producers abroad face on their exports to the U.S. Nothing about the principle of comparative advantage would lend itself to a defense of a status quo that imposes higher barriers to exports on America’s producers than on foreign producers. The global trade system has come under strain due to the influence of countries, like China, that violate market principles and distort the functioning of global markets… The Administration prioritizes its attempt to create the conditions that, according to the consensus principles in the economics literature, would maximize the benefits accruing to the United States—and produce gains for our trading partners as well.”

America’s 2017 trade deficit was $566 billion. That represents about 2.7 percent of GDP. Since 2000, it’s averaged that over $500 billion. In prior decades, the deficit was below 2% GDP.

Despite portrayals by some critics that the tariff move was abrupt, it has been considered since the start of the current White House.  The Department of Commerce  released a report last month revealing that it “found that the quantities and circumstances of steel and aluminum imports ‘threaten to impair the national security,’ as defined by Section 232…”

Key Findings of the Steel Report included:

  • The United States is the world’s largest importer of steel. [but] …imports are nearly four times our exports.
  • Six basic oxygen furnaces and four electric furnaces have closed since 2000 and employment has dropped by 35% since 1998.
  • World steelmaking capacity is 2.4 billion metric tons, up 127% from 2000, while steel demand grew at a slower rate.
  • The recent global excess capacity is 700 million tons, almost 7 times the annual total of U.S. steel consumption. China is by far the largest producer and exporter of steel, and the largest source of excess steel capacity. Their excess capacity alone exceeds the total U.S. steel-making capacity.
  • On an average month, China produces nearly as much steel as the U.S. does in a year. For certain types of steel, such as for electrical transformers, only one U.S. producer remains.
  • As of February 15, 2018, the U.S. had 169 antidumping and countervailing duty orders in place on steel, of which 29 are against China, and there are 25 ongoing investigations.

That is the reason; you can purchase the medicine from any online pharmacies, mailing companies of foreign pharmacies. cialis 40 mg a pill $ 15.00 and on the online options. Be sure to talk with your healthcare provider about any viagra from india online precautions and warnings that may apply to you. Vaajikarana in Ayurveda promotes sexual health and also helps manage and cure seminal weakness, male and female downtownsault.org female viagra cheap sexual disorders and infertility with best and satisfied results. In my opinion, focused method and suggestions of easy calm really functions properly and is an approved medicine. tadalafil in uk
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recommended to the President had previously recommended consideration of the following:

1.A global tariff of at least 24% on all steel imports from all countries, or 2. A tariff of at least 53% on all steel imports from 12 countries (Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam) with a quota by product on steel imports from all other countries equal to 100% of their 2017 exports to the United States, or 3.A quota on all steel products from all countries equal to 63% of each country’s 2017 exports to the United States.

The problem also should be seen in the overall light of the American trade deficit. In February, The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis  released its latest report on America’s trade status.

According to the analysis, “the goods and services deficit was $53.1 billion in December, up $2.7 billion from $50.4 billion in November, revised. December exports were $203.4 billion, $3.5 billion more than November exports. December imports were $256.5 billion, $6.2 billion more than November imports. The December increase in the goods and services deficit reflected an increase in the goods deficit of $2.6 billion to $73.3 billion and a decrease in the services surplus of $0.1 billion to $20.2 billion. For 2017, the goods and services deficit increased $61.2 billion, or 12.1 percent, from 2016. Exports increased $121.2 billion or 5.5 percent. Imports increased $182.5    billion or 6.7 percent.”

U.S. Commerce Dept. photo

The Report Concludes Monday.

Categories
Quick Analysis

From Left to Right, Opposition to the Transpacific Partnership

Lost in the various arguments for and against the Trans Pacific Partnership  is the unpleasant reality that there is little to reason to believe that it will right the persistent inequities that have detrimentally affected American businesses and workers .

In a fascinating development, two senators, who are not only from different political parties but who are as far apart ideologically as possible have come to the same conclusion in their opposition to the President’s push to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty.

Writing in the Guardian, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont),  a self-avowed socialist, noted: “The TPP is simply the continuation of a failed approach to trade …Before even Congress votes on any final trade agreement, the President has asked for ‘fast track authority’ … to complete TPP negotiations with 11 other countries. Fast track would relinquish Congress’s constitutional authority to the President to “regulate commerce with foreign nations”, limit our debate and prevent members of Congress from improving trade agreements to benefit the American people. … Our goal in Congress must be to make sure that American-made products, not American jobs, are our number-one export. We’ll never be able to do that if we enact the TPP and continue negotiating other treaties based on the same failed policies…”

Senator Jeff Session, a conservative, (R-Al) recently detailed his five major objections to the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty:

  1. “Consolidation Of Power In The Executive Branch. TPA eliminates Congress’ ability to amend or debate trade implementing legislation and guarantees an up-or-down vote on a far-reaching international agreement before that agreement has received any public review. Not only will Congress have given up the 67-vote threshold for a treaty and the 60-vote threshold for important legislation, but will have even given up the opportunity for amendment and the committee review process that both ensure member participation. Crucially, this applies not only to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) but all international trade agreements during the life of the TPA.

“There is no real check on the expiration of fast-track authority: if Congress does not affirmatively refuse to reauthorize TPA at the end of the defined authorization (2018), the authority is automatically renewed for an additional three years so long as the President requests the extension. And if a trade deal (not just TPP but any trade deal) is submitted to Congress that members believe does not fulfill, or that directly violates, the TPA recommendations—or any laws of the United States—it is exceptionally difficult for lawmakers to seek legislative redress or remove it from the fast track, as the exit ramp is under the exclusive control of the revenue and Rules committees. Moreover, while the President is required to submit a report to Congress on the terms of a trade agreement at least 60 days before submitting implementing legislation, the President can classify or otherwise redact information from this report, limiting its value to Congress. Is TPA designed to protect congressional responsibilities, or to limit Congress’ ability to do its duty?

  1. “Increased Trade Deficits. Barclays estimates that during the first quarter of this year, the overall U.S. trade deficit will reduce economic growth by .2 percent. History suggests that trade deals set into motion under the 6-year life of TPA could exacerbate our trade imbalance, acting as an impediment to both GDP and wage growth. Labor economist Clyde Prestowitz attributes 60 percent of the U.S.’ 5.7 million manufacturing jobs lost over the last decade to import-driven trade imbalances. And in a recent column for Reuters, a former chief executive officer at AT&T notes that “since the [NAFTA and South Korea free trade] pacts were implemented, U.S. trade deficits, which drag down economic growth, have soared more than 430 percent with our free-trade partners.

“In the same period, they’ve declined 11 percent with countries that are not free-trade partners… Obama’s 2011 trade deal with South Korea, which serves as the template for the new Trans-Pacific Partnership, has resulted in a 50 percent jump in the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea in its first two years. This equates to 50,000 U.S. jobs lost.” Job loss by U.S. workers means reduced consumer demand, less tax revenue flowing into the Treasury, and greater reliance on government assistance programs. It is important that Congress fully understand the impact of this very large trade agreement and to use caution to ensure the interests of the people are protected. Furthermore, the lack of protections in TPA against foreign subsidies could accelerate our shrinking domestic manufacturing base. We have been getting out-negotiated by our mercantilist trading partners for years, failing to aggressively advance legitimate U.S. interests, but the proponents of TPA have apparently not sought to rectify this problem. TPA proponents must answer this simple question: will your plan shrink the trade deficit or will it grow it even wider?

3. “Ceding Sovereign Authority To International Powers. A USTR outline of the TransPacific Partnership (which TPA would expedite) notes in the “Key Features” summary that the TPP is a “living agreement.” This means the President could update the agreement “as appropriate to address trade issues that emerge in the future as well as new issues that arise with the expansion of the agreement to include new countries.” The “living agreement” provision means that participating nations could both add countries to the TPP without Congress’ approval (like China), and could also change any of the terms of the agreement, including in controversial areas such as the entry of foreign workers and foreign employees. Again: these changes would not be subject to congressional approval.
Anxiety can also lead to the too quick ejaculation in some points in their life. levitra 10 mg The branded slovak-republic.org buying viagra in usaoint medical representative for the live promotion of the medicine to the physicians. One has to gulp the http://www.slovak-republic.org/religion/churches/ order levitra 100mg pills with the help of this drug. All of these work synergistically in achieving improved sexual organ health as well as generic sildenafil tablets bodily health.
“This has far-reaching implications: the Congressional Research Service reports that if the United States signs on to an international trade agreement, the implementing legislation of that trade agreement (as a law passed later in time) would supersede conflicting federal, state, and local laws. When this occurs, U.S. workers may be subject to a sudden change in tariffs, regulations, or dispute resolution proceedings in international tribunals outside the U.S. Promoters of TPA should explain why the American people ought to trust the Administration and its foreign partners to revise or rewrite international agreements, or add new members to those agreements, without congressional approval. Does this not represent an abdication of congressional authority?

  1. “Currency Manipulation. The biggest open secret in the international market is that other countries are devaluing their currencies to artificially lower the price of their exports while artificially raising the price of our exports to them. The result has been a massive bleeding of domestic manufacturing wealth. In fact, currency manipulation can easily dwarf tariffs in its economic impact. A 2014 biannual report from the Treasury Department concluded that the yuan, or renminbi, remained significantly undervalued, yet the Treasury Department failed to designate China as a “currency manipulator.” History suggests this Administration, like those before it, will not stand up to improper currency practices.

 “Currency protections are currently absent from TPA, indicating again that those involved in pushing these trade deals do not wish to see these currency abuses corrected. Therefore, even if currency protections are somehow added into TPA, it is still entirely possible that the Administration could ignore those guidelines and send Congress unamendable trade deals that expose U.S. workers to a surge of underpriced foreign imports. President Obama’s longstanding resistance to meaningful currency legislation is proof he intends to take no action. The President has repeatedly failed to stand up to currency manipulators. Why should we believe this time will be any different?

  1. “Immigration Increases. There are numerous ways TPA could facilitate immigration increases above current law—and precious few ways anyone in Congress could stop its happening. For instance: language could be included or added into the TPP, as well as any future trade deal submitted for fast-track consideration in the next 6 years, with the clear intent to facilitate or enable the movement of foreign workers and employees into the United States (including intracompany transfers), and there would be no capacity for lawmakers to strike the offending provision. The Administration could also simply act on its own to negotiate foreign worker increases with foreign trading partners without ever advertising those plans to Congress. In 2011, the United States entered into an agreement with South Korea—never brought before Congress—to increase the duration of L-1 visas (a visa that affords no protections for U.S. workers).

“Every year, tens of thousands of foreign guest workers come to the U.S. as part of past trade   deals. However, because there is little transparency, estimating an exact figure is difficult. The plain language of TPA provides avenues for the Administration and its trading partners to facilitate the expanded movement of foreign workers into the U.S.— including visitor visas that are used as worker visas…Stating that “TPP contains no change to immigration law” is a semantic rather than a factual argument. Language already present in both TPA and TPP provide the basis for admitting more foreign workers, and for longer periods of time, and language could later be added to TPP or any future trade deal to further increase such admissions.

“The President has already subjected American workers to profound wage loss through executive-ordered foreign worker increases on top of existing record immigration levels. Yet, despite these extraordinary actions, the Administration will casually assert that is has merely modernized, clarified, improved, streamlined, and updated immigration rules. Thus, at any point during the 6-year life of TPA, the Administration could send Congress a trade deal—or issue an executive action subsequent to a trade deal as part of its implementation—that increased foreign worker entry into the U.S., all while claiming it has never changed immigration law.

“The…TPA would yield new power to the executive to alter admissions while subtracting congressional checks against those actions…The Supreme Court has consistently held that the Constitution grants Congress plenary authority over immigration policy. … Granting the President TPA could enable controversial changes or increases to a wide variety of visas—such as the H-1B, B-1, E-1, and L-1—including visas that confer foreign nationals with a pathway to a green card and thus citizenship. Future trade deals could also have the possible effect of preventing Congress from reforming abuses in our guest worker programs, as countries could complain that limitations on foreign worker travel constituted a trade barrier requiring adjudication by an international body.

“The TPP also includes an entire chapter on “Temporary Entry” that applies to all parties and that affects U.S. immigration law. Additionally, the Temporary Entry chapter creates a separate negotiating group, explicitly contemplating that the parties to the TPP will revisit temporary entry at some point in the future for the specific purpose of making changes to this chapter—after Congress would have already approved the TPP. This possibility grows more acute given that TPP is a ‘living agreement’ that can be altered without Congress. Proponents of TPA should be required to answer this question: if you are confident that TPA would not enable any immigration actions between now and its 2021 expiration, why not include ironclad enforcement language to reverse any such presidential action?”

Categories
NY Analysis

International Trade and Modern Slavery

Should the United States do business with nations that tacitly condone human trafficking? According to some critics, the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement will increase the challenge of modern slavery.

According to the End Slavery Now organization, Between 21 and 30 million people are enslaved throughout the world. That averages out to about 1 out of every 280 people on the planet.

The U.S. State Department  notes:

“The United States government considers trafficking in persons to include all of the criminal conduct involved in forced labor and sex trafficking, essentially the conduct involved in reducing or holding someone in compelled service. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act as amended (TVPA) and consistent with the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (Palermo Protocol), individuals may be trafficking victims regardless of whether they once consented, participated in a crime as a direct result of being trafficked, were transported into the exploitative situation, or were simply born into a state of servitude. Despite a term that seems to connote movement, at the heart of the phenomenon of trafficking in persons are the many forms of enslavement, not the activities involved in international transportation.

Forced Labor

Also known as involuntary servitude, forced labor may result when unscrupulous employers exploit workers made more vulnerable by high rates of unemployment, poverty, crime, discrimination, corruption, political conflict, or even cultural acceptance of the practice. Immigrants are particularly vulnerable, but individuals also may be forced into labor in their own countries. Female victims of forced or bonded labor, especially women and girls in domestic servitude, are often sexually exploited as well.

Sex Trafficking

When an adult is coerced, forced, or deceived into prostitution – or maintained in prostitution through coercion – that person is a victim of trafficking. All of those involved in recruiting, transporting, harboring, receiving, or obtaining the person for that purpose have committed a trafficking crime. Sex trafficking can also occur within debt bondage, as women and girls are forced to continue in prostitution through the use of unlawful “debt” purportedly incurred through their transportation, recruitment, or even their crude “sale,” which exploiters insist they must pay off before they can be free.

It is critical to understand that a person’s initial consent to participate in prostitution is not legally determinative; if an individual is thereafter held in service through psychological manipulation or physical force, that person is a trafficking victim and should receive the benefits outlined in the United Nations’ Palermo Protocol and applicable laws.

Bonded Labor

One form of coercion is the use of a bond, or debt. Often referred to as “bonded labor” or “debt bondage,” the practice has long been prohibited under U.S. law by its Spanish name, peonage, and the Palermo Protocol calls for its criminalization as a form of trafficking in persons. Workers around the world fall victim to debt bondage when traffickers or recruiters unlawfully exploit an initial debt the worker assumed as part of the terms of employment. Workers may also inherit intergenerational debt in more traditional systems of bonded labor.

Debt Bondage Among Migrant Laborers

Abuses of contracts and hazardous conditions of employment for migrant laborers do not necessarily constitute human trafficking. However, the burden of illegal costs and debts on these laborers in the source country, often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country, can contribute to a situation of debt bondage. This is often exacerbated when the worker’s status in the country is tied to the employer in the context of employment-based temporary work programs and there is no effective redress for abuse.

Involuntary Domestic Servitude

tadalafil soft Mercury toxicity can lead to health hazards; it is a poisonous element which should be avoided after a substantial or heavy meal. To keep yourself healthy and happy you, need to perform sex with you partner. online cialis generic davidfraymusic.com The dosage http://davidfraymusic.com/2018/01/ buy cialis is usually a 25mg tablet, which is then increased over time or as your practitioner deems fit. It’s already been recognized to trigger patients’ genitals to reduce. viagra delivery canada A unique form of forced labor is the involuntary servitude of domestic workers, whose workplace is informal, connected to their off-duty living quarters, and not often shared with other workers. Such an environment, which often socially isolates domestic workers, is conducive to nonconsensual exploitation since authorities cannot inspect private property as easily as formal workplaces. Investigators and service providers report many cases of untreated illnesses and, tragically, widespread sexual abuse, which in some cases may be symptoms of a situation of involuntary servitude. Ongoing international efforts seek to ensure that not only that administrative remedies are enforced but also that criminal penalties are enacted against those who hold others in involuntary domestic servitude.

Forced Child Labor

Most international organizations and national laws recognize that children may legally engage in certain forms of work. There is a growing consensus, however, that the worst forms of child labor should be eradicated. The sale and trafficking of children and their entrapment in bonded and forced labor are among these worst forms of child labor. A child can be a victim of human trafficking regardless of the location of that exploitation. Indicators of forced labor of a child include situations in which the child appears to be in the custody of a non-family member who has the child perform work that financially benefits someone outside the child’s family and does not offer the child the option of leaving. Anti-trafficking responses should supplement, not replace, traditional actions against child labor, such as remediation and education. However, when children are enslaved, their abusers should not escape criminal punishment by virtue of longstanding patters of limited responses to child labor practices rather than more effective law enforcement action.

Child Soldiers

Child soldiering can be a manifestation of human trafficking where it involves the unlawful recruitment or use of children—through force, fraud, or coercion—as combatants, or for labor or sexual exploitation by armed forces. Perpetrators may be government forces, paramilitary organizations, or rebel groups. Many children are forcibly abducted to be used as combatants. Others are made unlawfully to work as porters, cooks, guards, servants, messengers, or spies. Young girls can be forced to marry or have sex with male combatants. Both male and female child soldiers are often sexually abused and are at high risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases.”

The web site Human Trafficking Search.net adds another, and terrifying, form of slavery: forcing people to surrender their organs.

The issue of modern slavery has gained more public attention due to the debate following President Obama’s push to pass the Trans Pacific Partnership treaty.

Sister Jeanne Christensen, writing in The Hill, states: “I am deeply troubled by the recent turn of events in the Senate as the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill is debated. Initially, I was encouraged to see the Senate Finance Committee pass the No Fast Track for Human Traffickers amendment when it approved the current TPA legislation, the Congressional Bipartisan Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015.The No Fast Track for Human Traffickers amendment, sponsored by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), received overwhelming bipartisan support and stipulates that the United States cannot enter into formal trade agreements with countries that the State Department identifies as Tier 3 in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report…I raise this question because I am disturbed that corporate lobbyists and the Obama administration are now working to push the Senate to water down or completely strip the Menendez amendment. …Are cheap products from unscrupulous governments worth more to us than ending modern-day slavery?”

According to Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ): “ We’re outraged that 36 million women, children and men around the world are subjected to involuntary labor or sexual exploitation. We’re outraged when we hear that over five million of them are children – that forced labor generates about 150-plus-billion-dollars in profits annually, the second largest income source for international criminals next to the drug trade. For the victims of these crimes, the term ‘modern slavery’ more starkly describes what is happening around the world…he Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) requires that the State Department annually publish a Trafficking in Persons – or TIP – Report that ranks each country based on the extent of government action to combat trafficking. Tier 3 is the worst of these rankings. It indicates that a government does not comply with the TVPA’s minimum standards and is not making significant efforts to do so. Tier 3 countries are those that have not even taken the most basic steps to address their human trafficking problem, and have not provided protection for trafficking victims.

“And, in the most recent TIP report published, the State Department ranked 23 countries as Tier 3. Countries like North Korea, Iran, and Cuba have flaunted international legal norms and threatened to upend global security. And I am most disappointed to say that Malaysia, a middle-income country by most standards — a party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations — has the resources and wherewithal to address human trafficking within its borders, but has for years now failed to take sufficient action to warrant an upgrade on the TIP report.”

In 2000, the United States enacted the Human Trafficking Protection Act, described by Rescue. Org: 

“The Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 created the first comprehensive federal law to address human trafficking, with a significant focus on the international dimension of the problem. The law provided a three-pronged approach: prevention through public awareness programs overseas and a State Department-led monitoring and sanctions program; protection through a new T-Visa and services for foreign national victims; and prosecution through new federal crimes. The TVPA was reauthorized through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2003, the TVPRA of 2005, and the TVPRA of 2008, which included greater protections for U.S. citizen victims, enhanced and enacted new human trafficking crimes, enhanced victim service provisions, and strengthened the role of the Trafficking in Persons Office within the State Department.”

Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) has introduced legislation that would use fines paid by sex traffickers to assist victims. Democrats are holding up that bill, insisting that some of the proceeds be used to pay for abortions.

 Also introduced this year in the U.S. Senate is S. 553. proposed by Senator Bob Corker (R-Tn) The “End Modern Slavery Initiative Act,” which would establish the End Modern Slavery Foundation “to work with government, civil society, and private institutions in partner countries and key jurisdictions of other countries supported by the Foundation with a high prevalence of modern slavery to identify and fund successful strategies to combat modern slavery. The U.S. government shall seek other foreign governments providing Foundation support to provide additional support for projects in partner countries.”