The U.S. and China signed a trade deal on Jan 15. Attempting to rewire China’s economic system cannot be achieved in one pass – an agreement this ambitious would have to be built in phases. What does that mean for the future of trade deals?
If you’re in the market for a bicycle to put under the tree this year, trade policy has made your choices more complicated. New tariffs on bicycles have increased prices for U.S. importers and consumers. But a higher and more generous threshold for duty-free online purchases directly from foreign retailers can be a way to escape the tariffs — but it can be a gamble.
Labor provisions are an increasingly important feature in trade agreements. But do they work? Despite the attention paid to labor provisions in trade deals like USMCA, domestic policy, not trade agreements, might be the most direct – and most effective – way to improve workers’ lot, especially in advanced countries like the United States.
If shoppers are worried about the U.S.-China trade war, it’s not showing up yet in measures of their buying confidence or holiday retail sales. After more than a year of dueling tariffs, American and Chinese consumers are still filling their real and virtual shopping carts to the brim.
Responding to U.S. tariffs, China has imposed a 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans since July last year. The tariff has remained in place as leverage in the trade war – a proxy for whether China perceives progress is being made or not in the negotiations.
In 2016 the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union (EU). The three years of negotiation that ensued have thus far been about the terms of a “withdrawal agreement” which provides for a transition trade agreement. The longer-term trade arrangements between the EU and the UK are still up for negotiation.
In response to WTO-illegal European subsidies to its aircraft industry, the U.S. administration is reportedly considering what is known as “carousel” retaliation against the EU – a regular rotation of goods targeted for tariffs, designed to impose maximum pain. The United States and Europe have been on this ride before.
The political winds seem to be blowing in favor of a Congressional vote on the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement (USMCA) yet this fall. But before they vote, some Members of Congress want to talk over a few issues with the Trump administration’s negotiators. One is intellectual property protections for the U.S. biopharmaceutical industry. As important as it is, the issue of data protection for biologic drugs is not well understood.
The next generation of smarter and more powerful machines will rely on even more sophisticated semiconductors to achieve new capabilities. Pressure is on to “win” in the global chip race, which is why efforts to protect innovations in chipmaking are front and center in the current trade war – for better and for worse.
As negotiations continue toward a trade agreement, President Trump and President Xi of China have imposed tariffs on each country’s products in an unprecedented trade war. If you’ve lost track of how we got here, here is a handy quick guide to recent events unfolding in the ongoing U.S.-China trade war.