Twice a year, the U.S. Treasury Department issues a report required by Congress that assesses the foreign exchange policies of our major trading partners. Our experts break down the key take-aways from the latest FX Report.
If the Trump administration seeks an end to binding dispute settlement procedures, it would represent a significant departure from decades of the United States leading the global charge for making dispute settlement in trade agreements binding and enforceable.
As the President engages with Congress, the public, and his Mexican and Canadian counterparts to renegotiate NAFTA, he may find it useful to consider his own 11-step formula for success. Step two: “Protect the downside, and the upside will take care of itself.”
Currency exchange rates have affected the terms of international trade since the beginning of floating exchange rates, and for nearly as long, politicians have accused trading partners of manipulating exchange rates to gain an unfair advantage. What does it mean to engage in “currency manipulation,” how do governments determine whether and when it happens, and what can be done about it?
Confirmation of Robert Lighthizer as USTR is still pending but some of his views on China were revealed at his hearing. The WTO may not have all the tools needed to address China’s industrial policies so the Trump Administration may look for additional new ones.
If you’re like most Americans, you are more familiar with Davos Seaworth from Game of Thrones than with the little ski town of Davos, Switzerland. But this week in Switzerland, China’s president and a representative from Mr. Trump’s Administration both said they’d like to avoid a trade war.
Mr. Trump ran on a platform that rejects the notion that trade agreements have worked to America’s favor. He promised some major reversals of trade policies. Will he dump trade?
President-elect Trump is already marching through his first 100-day agenda. Near the top of that list is withdrawing from NAFTA—or re-negotiating it. He should work with Mexico and Canada to create a North American Infrastructure Bank instead of re-opening an outdated NAFTA agenda.