China’s Industrial Policies and Trade Rules – If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em?
Discussions are now underway as to whether EU antitrust policies need to be relaxed in order to allow greater latitude to meet the challenge posed by Chinese mega-firms.
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Feeding China’s State-Owned Enterprises With Government Cash
China went from a net importer of critical intermediary goods such as glass, paper, steel, and auto parts, to becoming the leading producer and dominant global exporter of these products. How could this seismic shift occur in industries where China does not maintain a particular advantage in labor, technology, or natural resources? The answer in large part is subsidization of Chinese production in the form of state-directed capital flows.
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Fisheries subsidies: The WTO’s New Year’s Resolution for 2019?
Government subsidies to fishing industries may be accelerating the depletion of fish stocks. Nearly 90 percent of the world’s fish stocks are at risk of being overfished. WTO members first started negotiating on fisheries subsidies in 2001 and have vowed to reach an agreement restraining these kinds of subsidies by the end of 2019.
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Will US-China Trade Talks Solve the Real Problems?
The announcement that trade talks in Beijing between the United States and China had been extended by a day sparked an uptick in stocks and renewed optimism that a resolution to the trade war might be in the offing. A minimal face-saving agreement should be possible before the March deadline, but this would only delay the ultimate day of reckoning. Friction points between China’s state-directed economic system and the United States’ ostensibly free market, free trade system will reassert themselves sooner rather than later.
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Will the U.S. and Canada Cry Over Spilled Milk in NAFTA?
Production limits and price-setting means Canadian milk drinkers pay significantly more than they would in a free market. Conversely, for certain lucrative and in-demand dairy product ingredients, Canadian dairy boards have set prices at or below international market prices. U.S. and other global dairy farmers have argued this offers Canadian exports an advantage in third markets, while driving global prices and farm receipts down. Will NAFTA 2.0 change any of this?
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American Rubber Band Makers in a Bind
In 2016, the United States imported $1.3 billion worth of natural rubber, second only to China as the world's largest importer. But America's largest rubber band manufacturer has asked U.S. trade agencies to investigate whether China, Thailand, and Sri Lanka are subsidizing their producers, enabling them to sell unfairly cheap rubber bands.
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China’s Addiction to Intellectual Property Theft
President Trump just announced $50 billion worth of tariffs and other penalties on China for its theft of intellectual property, technology, and trade secrets. China will not change its behavior absent external pressure -- pushing back against the constant drain from Chinese IP theft is long overdue.
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For the Love of Peeps: The Price We Pay for American Sugar
For many years now, the U.S. Government has implemented a sugar program that ensures sugar producers and refiners get a minimum price for American-grown sugar. It's a hidden tax paid for by Peep-lovers everywhere.
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The problem with U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum that no one is talking about
The problem steels tariffs are supposed to address isn't receiving much attention -- a number of countries are undeniably engaging in unfair and even predatory trade practices in the steel and aluminum sectors which are damaging to their trade partners.
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