Thursday, July 10

Global Trade

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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Canada, Mexico & U.S. Leaders Sign New Trade Deal
30Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

Canada, Mexico & U.S. Leaders Sign New Trade Deal

Nov. 30, 2018--The presidents of Canada, Mexico and the United States signed a new trade agreement governing trillions of dollars of North American trade. Meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina ahead of today's G20 meeting, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto signed the treaty. The legislatures each country still need to approve it before it takes effect. NAFTA Becomes USMCA The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement succeeds the North American Free Trade Agreement. USMCA covers agriculture, intellectual property, digital trade and financial services. It includes environmental safeguards against unregulated fishing and in trafficking in wildlife and timber and labor rights, such as worker representation in collective bargai...
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Global Exchange Bars Iranian Banks in Wake of U.S. Sanctions
13Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

Global Exchange Bars Iranian Banks in Wake of U.S. Sanctions

Nov. 13, 2018--U.S. sanctions against Iran are beginning to hit the banking sector, making international exchange difficult for Iran and its trading partners. Over the weekend, a global messaging system needed for international trade cut Iranian banks off from its exchange. Without access, Iranian traders cannot conduct business abroad using with bank-to-bank money transfers. As the ban takes effect, international transactions with Iranian banks and traders may come to a halt. Furthermore, the impact on banking transactions brings diplomatic rifts between the United States and the European Union to the surface. SWIFT's Hard Hit The Brussels-based SWIFT system started disconnecting some Iranian banks from its network over the weekend. A SWIFT statement reported by Reuters called the...
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New U.S. Sanctions Against Iran Go Into Effect
5Nov By Patti MohrNo Comments
Energy Policy, Oil & Gas, Global Trade, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

New U.S. Sanctions Against Iran Go Into Effect

Nov. 5, 2018--Six months after pulling out of the six-party nuclear deal, the United States has launched new sanctions against Iran, impacting its banks, shipping industry, businesses and individuals. The sanctions block assets and transactions on over 900 targets, many of them newly named. "They'll be the toughest sanctions ever placed against the Islamic Republic of Iran," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday in an interview with CBS News. The sanctions mean that companies doing business with both the U.S. and Iranian firms will have to make a choice: Pick a side. You cannot do business with both countries. According to Pompeo, some business leaders quit conducting business in Iran based on the U.S. decision to withdraw from the six-party nuclear deal. "European co...
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U.S. Firms Sold Saudi Arabia $139 Billion of Weapons in Last 10 Years
31Oct By Patti MohrNo Comments
Arms Sales, Military Industry, Geopolitics, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Firms Sold Saudi Arabia $139 Billion of Weapons in Last 10 Years

October 31, 2018-U.S. defense companies sold the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nearly $139 billion of military equipment and defense services over the last 10 years. That's more than the $110 billion in sales projected for the next 10 years. International arms sales to the kingdom are coming under greater scrutiny in the aftermath of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian officials in Istanbul, Turkey on Oct. 2. Last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution urging member states to ban arm sales to Saudi Arabia. Some U.S. lawmakers, like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are urging colleagues to to do same. Ongoing Arms Sales The highest grossing year of sales to the Saudi military for U.S. defense companies was 2010 with $60.9 billion of sales. Sales include Chinook, Apache ...
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Businesses Begin to Feel the Bite of a Global Trade War
26Jun By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Analysis

Businesses Begin to Feel the Bite of a Global Trade War

June 26, 2018 - As a growing list of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs take effect, businesses are beginning to feel the economic impact. Manufacturers worldwide are bracing for the change and considering ways to manage. Importers and Exporters Impacted Manufacturers in Guangdong, China, for instance, say they are consider setting up factories in countries like India, Vietnam and Mexico, shipping their products to the United States through other countries first and charging U.S. buyers more. While the impact might be relatively small for Chinese industry as a whole, individual industries and companies, such as automotive suppliers, would be hit hard, according to South China Morning Post reporting. Companies making metal products who are exposed to both tariffs and counter tariffs on st...
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U.S. to Target China’s Strategic Industries in New 25 Percent Tariffs
15Jun By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Brief

U.S. to Target China’s Strategic Industries in New 25 Percent Tariffs

June 15, 2018-U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans today to impose 25 percent tariffs on up to $50 billion of Chinese imports related to "industrial significant technologies." The tariffs will target emerging high-technologies outlined in China's "Made in China 2025," a strategic plan China published in 2015. That plan proposes to remake the Chinese economy from a low-cost manufacturing hub to a higher-value producer in 10 key sectors, including green technologies, robotics, aerospace, transportation, information technology, and pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Many analysts, such as those at the Council on Foreign Relations, view China's strategic vision as an industrial threat. Trump echoed that sentiment in his announcement. "The United States can no longer toler...
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NOTABLE QUOTABLE: “If you are spending more than you are producing, that means you will have a trade deficit…. America is spending more than you are producing.”
12Jun By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Trade, Types of News: Quotes

NOTABLE QUOTABLE: “If you are spending more than you are producing, that means you will have a trade deficit…. America is spending more than you are producing.”

Little Sympathy for U.S. Trade Deficit in Singapore June 12, 2018--Speaking to reporters in Singapore, U.S. President Donald Trump complained that the United States "has lost $800 billion" due to its trade deficit with the rest of the world over the last couple years. While that message may appeal to Trump supporters in the United States, it doesn't carry much weight abroad. Lee summed up the U.S. trade-deficit situation quite simply. "If you are spending more than you are producing, that means you will have a trade deficit; if you're spending less than you're producing, that means you will save money or run a trade surplus. So America is spending more than you are producing. Why are you able to do that? Because you are the most powerful country in the world, and everybody else wan...
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What’s Ahead for the Global Economic Order After G7 Summit?
11Jun By Patti MohrNo Comments
Global Economics, Global Trade, International Law, Legal Battles, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, Types of News: Analysis

What’s Ahead for the Global Economic Order After G7 Summit?

June 11, 2018--Before exiting early from the G7 Summit in Canada and withdrawing his endorsement for the joint communique, U.S. President Donald Trump negotiated an edit that has a major impact on the global economy. Specifically, Trump's team insisted on changing the phrase "the rules-based international order" to "a rules-based international trading system." While the edit may seem small, it may represent one of the most significant geopolitical shifts in 70 years. The change from "the" to "a" indicates that Trump -- and now also the other six signers of the 2018 communique -- no longer support the rules-based international order that the United States and its allies put in place in the post-World War II world. Instead, they now support a theoretical system, however abstract or ...
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G7 Summit Ends in Insults And Injury to Global Trade, Western Alliance
10Jun By Patti MohrNo Comments
Diplomacy, Global Trade, Organizations, IMF, WTO, G7, Types of News: Brief

G7 Summit Ends in Insults And Injury to Global Trade, Western Alliance

June 10, 2018--Just hours after appearing to sign a G7 Joint Communique with the heads of state of six leading Western democracies on Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump reversed course by posting on Twitter that he would not endorse the statement. It was a significant setback for relations among the Western democracies, which have struggled to find a common voice since President Trump threatened to raise trade tariffs on its top trading partners. The Communiqué The 28-point statement includes language on "free, fair and mutually beneficial trade and investment," "a rules-based international trading system," and opposition to protectionism. It also declares joint opposition to tax evasion and shared support for education and equal opportunity to take part in the global econo...
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