• Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads agree to merge, forming “first USMCA railroad network”; • HUGE proposal for Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador would provide home country jobs, relieve US border crisis; • US farmers taking big export hit from US dropping out of Trans-Pacific Partnership; • US Trade Representative Katherine Tai is […]
Administration concedes failure of bilateral pacts
Bilateral pacts have long been the administration’s preferred trade policy, but not any longer The weekly trade report with L.C. Bilateral pacts have been the Trump administration’s preferred policy from day one of its tenure. Bilateral pacts, by comparison with multilateral pacts, tend to promote protectionism – my nation and yours vs. the outsiders — […]
Trump administration plays hardball at the WTO
Trade correspondent L.C.’s weekly trade report: Over the past two weeks, the Trump administration has been playing hardball at the WTO, including the possibility of vetoing its budget for the next two years and opposing the compensation given Appellate Body (AB) judges. This week, it offered an alternative AB payment plan featuring drastic cuts. Washington […]
US seeks to head off Turkey break with free trade offer
Trade correspondent L.C. reports: The idea of a US-Turkey Free Trade Agreement was raised this week by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). He spoke about the possibility after meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, with whom the President asked him to meet. The prospect of an FTA was presumably also the White House’s idea. […]
WTO reportedly rejects China’s claim to be market economy
Trade correspondent L.C. reports: China has reportedly lost the WTO case it brought against the EU for not granting it market-economy status. The report of this ruling comes from Bloomberg, citing two well-placed sources. WTO rulings are circulated to the parties to a case well before they are publicly released, so the report amounts to […]
