Wednesday, April 30

Tag: trade

Trump Seeks Payback from U.S. Bombing Campaign, Demanding Free Passage Through Suez Canal
29Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Geopolitics, Global Trade, Middle East, Types of News: Analysis

Trump Seeks Payback from U.S. Bombing Campaign, Demanding Free Passage Through Suez Canal

Trump wants Egypt to give U.S. ships free passage through the Suez Canal April 29, 2025—In just three weeks alone this Spring, the United States spent nearly a billion dollars bombing Yemen. That doesn’t include the cost of the $70 million jet fighter that fell off the USS Harry S. Truman on Monday. Now, President Trump is looking for payback. In the Middle East, he’s demanding free passage for U.S. ships on Egypt’s Suez Canal that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. He wants the same free ride through the Panama Canal in the Americas. "Those Canals would not exist without the United States of America," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, adding that he asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to make it happen immediately. Typical fees for U.S. ships transporting t...
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Canada’s PM Promises to Never Forget the Lessons of the ‘American Betrayal’
29Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Domestic Politics, Globalization, Global Disintegration, Political Systems, Domestic Politics, Types of News: Brief

Canada’s PM Promises to Never Forget the Lessons of the ‘American Betrayal’

Mark Carney Vows To Build New Economic And Security Relationships April 29, 2025—Canada elected Mark Carney to lead the country amid an atmosphere of tense relations with the United States under the presidency of Donald Trump. Carney is an economist and former central banker with extensive experience in managing financial turbulence. He led the Bank of England during Britain’s Brexit from the European Union and saw the Bank of Canada through the 2008-9 financial crisis. In March, he won the election to lead the Liberal Party with 85.9 percent of the party’s vote. He was sworn in as prime minister shortly thereafter, replacing Justin Trudeau. America Won’t ‘Break Us’ America played a central role in this year’s Canadian elections. In his second term, Trump has taken an ag...
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Trade Wars: Lawsuit Against Trump Tariffs Gathers Support
28Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, International Law, Legal Battles, Types of News: Brief, United States

Trade Wars: Lawsuit Against Trump Tariffs Gathers Support

The Case Challenges Executive Authority to Effectively ‘Tax’ Consumers The U.S. Court of International Trade may not be the most high-profile court in the United States, but it is getting more attention and cases this year under the Trump Administration’s tariff regime. In one case, filed this month on behalf of five business relying on imports, the Liberty Justice Center is arguing that President Donald Trump overstepped his authority by imposing duties on imports. Now, a broad coalition of former senators, judges, lawyers, and attorneys general agrees and is joining the lawsuit. Tariff Update: Since he announced a wave of tariffs against U.S. trading partners, Trump has postponed most hikes while raising the U.S. tariff on goods from China to 145 percent. M...
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Trump’s Costly—And Possibly Criminal—Targeting Against Yemen
5Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Geopolitics, Global Trade, International Law, Legal Battles, Middle East, Types of News: Analysis

Trump’s Costly—And Possibly Criminal—Targeting Against Yemen

Trump May Have Just Committed A War Crime April 5, 2025—Donald Trump, president of the United States, may have just committed a war crime. Late Friday night, he tweeted a video of a drone bomb attack against men gathering in a large circle in a desert. He wrote, “These Houthis gathered for instructions on an attack. Oops, there will be no attack by these Houthis!” It’s not clear from the satellite footage what was happening on the ground, but logic suggests that it was more likely a tribal celebration than a war-planning meeting. The Eid Festival Eid al-Fitr is the first of the two main Muslim festivals that takes place in the Spring at the conclusion of Ramadan. Celebrations differ by country. Eid lasts anywhere from two to five days, commencing with the sighting of the new...
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USTR Releases Report on Trade Barriers
1Apr By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Globalization, Global Disintegration, Types of News: Brief

USTR Releases Report on Trade Barriers

April 1, 2025--On the week the Trump Administration is expected to issue tariffs that could potentially impact most U.S. trading partners, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer released a report detailing barriers to global trade. The 397-page report includes input from several government agencies and public comments from October 2024. Organized by country, it will likely serve as a compass for bilateral negotiations going forward. What's helpful is a description of 14 types of trade barriers discussed. They include: Import policies such as tariffs, import charges, quantitative restrictions, and licensing requirements, customs barriers and shortcomings in trade facilitation, and other market access barriers; Technical barriers to trade, such as restrictive standards, conformity ...
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U.S. Cites Currency Manipulation As Source of Trade Subsidy in Twist-Tie Case
25Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Currency, Debt, National Budgets & Interest Rates, Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Cites Currency Manipulation As Source of Trade Subsidy in Twist-Tie Case

November 25, 2020--For the first time in an investigation of a trade subsidy, the U.S. Commerce Department identified China's undervalued currency as a state subsidy warranting a financial penalty at the U.S. border. On Tuesday, the department announced it is asking the U.S. Customs and Border Control to begin collecting cash deposits at a rate of 122.5 percent from importers of Chinese twist ties. The rate reflects the total amount of subsidies U.S. officials estimate Chinese twist tie exporters receive from their government. Next Steps Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. said the department would "continue to use the legal tools at our disposal to aggressively counter currency undervaluation and other unfair subsidies, further ensuring a level playing field for American businesses a...
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16Jan By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief, United States

Congress Clears US-Mexico-Canada Trade Deal

January 16, 2020-It's a big week for trade. A day after the United States and China agreed to a phase one of a trade deal, the U.S. Senate approved a trade agreement that replaces NAFTA. Only nine senators voted against it while 89 voted for it. Since the House has previously passed it with a bipartisan 385-41 vote, the agreement is cleared for the White House. The deal, the USMCA, is a massive three-way agreement that covers goods worth about $1.3 trillion. Leaders of Mexico, Canada and the United States signed the deal in late 2018. Mexico's Senate voted for the agreement on June 20, 2019 and a revised treaty on Dec. 12, 2019. It's up to the Mexican president to ratify it. Canada is expected to consider implementing legislation when the new Parliament begins its session. For...
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Tenuous US-China Trade Talks
14Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

Tenuous US-China Trade Talks

October 14, 2019--High-level trade talks between U.S. and Chinese leaders last week produced some results but left the possibility for higher tariffs open in December if details are not settled. "We have a great deal. We're papering it now," U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday. "China is going to keep their word. They want to make the deal." China's chief negotiator signaled modest support. "We have made substantial progress in many fields," Vice Premier Liu He said through an interpreter on Friday. "We are happy about it." The partial deal, which is not yet settled, comes at a time when trade between the two countries has fallen. According to a report today in the Financial Times, China's imports from the United States fell 26.4 percent in September while its exports t...
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WTO Deals Blow to U.S. Case Against China’s State-Subsidized Pricing
18Jul By Patti MohrNo Comments
Communism, Dictatorship, Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

WTO Deals Blow to U.S. Case Against China’s State-Subsidized Pricing

July 18, 2019-- The world's litigation body for trade disputes dealt a new blow to a multiyear effort by U.S. representatives to counteract pricing impacted by state-owned enterprises. The decision impacts a wide range of products, including solar panels and aluminum. More striking, it weighs in on the mounting tension in the global economy between competing economic systems. What: This Week's Action Late Tuesday, a World Trade Organization appellate body upheld a decision by a lower panel regarding U.S. tariffs on a series of mostly industrial products imported from China that U.S. officials believe to be subsidized and under priced. Products impacted include solar panels, wind towers, steel cylinders and sinks, kitchen shelving, lawn groomers, aluminum extrusions and a serie...
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U.S.-China Head Off Trade War
3Dec By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

U.S.-China Head Off Trade War

Dec. 3, 2018-Meeting in in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the sidelines of the G20 summit over the weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed prevent a pending hike in tariffs scheduled to take effect in less than a month. It was their first formal face-to-face meeting since Trump visited China in November of 2017. "It’s an incredible deal," Trump said to reporters on Dec. 2 on Air Force One. "It goes down, certainly — if it happens, it goes down as one of the largest deals ever made.... And what I’d be doing is holding back on tariffs. China will be opening up. China will be getting rid of tariffs." Timeout on Tariff Hikes In effect, the agreement gives U.S.-Chinese negotiators 90 days to complete talks on the following trade issues: forced techn...
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