It does not suggest, except in Trump's imagination and the Treasury's outlandish claim, that China is manipulating its currency. This is true even according to the arbitrary standards of America's own trade laws, much less according to objective standards. According to the US Treasury's own criteria before Monday's pronouncement, a country may be considered a "currency manipulator" if three tests are met. First, the country has a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States of at least $40 billion. Second, the country has a material current account surplus overall of at least 2% of GDP. Third, the country has been consistently intervening in the foreign exchange market to keep its currency weak, with an accumulation of foreign exchange reserves of at least 2% of GDP over the preceding six to 12 months. In China's case, only the first of these three criteria is met. … [Read more...] about China isn’t the economic manipulator in this trade war. Trump is
Trading places international
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Says Hong Kong No Longer Autonomous from China, Threatening Trade Status
Opposition from Washington toward Beijing's policies in Hong Kong have represented yet another challenge for relations between the world's top two economies. While the U.S. and China managed to reach a phase-one deal in January to halt their tit-for-tat trade war, disputes over the handling of the pandemic and other geopolitical issues such as territorial questions over Taiwan and the greater South China Sea continue to be the source of heightened tensions. … [Read more...] about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Says Hong Kong No Longer Autonomous from China, Threatening Trade Status
Iran, Venezuela Praise Fuel Shipments Despite U.S. ‘Aggression’ on Their Trade Deal
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the U.S. during a cabinet session Wednesday of seeking "to interfere in the normal trade between Iran and a friendly country in carrying an oil product," something he argued "has nothing to do with them and is not compatible with any law." Without mentioning Venezuela by name, he referred to successful Iranian shipments in the Caribbean, where at least three of five tankers have already entered the waters off the socialist-led, fuel-starved Latin American nation. … [Read more...] about Iran, Venezuela Praise Fuel Shipments Despite U.S. ‘Aggression’ on Their Trade Deal
UK tells EU: break the Brexit ‘impasse’ so we can do trade deal
Asked about EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, Frost said: “It is the job of a good negotiator - and he is one - to assess reality and the genuine positions of the other side and genuine ability to move and if you don’t possess reality in a cold way then you don’t get agreement.” … [Read more...] about UK tells EU: break the Brexit ‘impasse’ so we can do trade deal
Reality check for US in trade tug of war
US President Donald Trump speaks on vaccine development on May 15, 2020, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN / AFP In an interview at the start of the year, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross predicted that the oncoming coronavirus pandemic would encourage more companies to shrink supply chains and return jobs to the United States, a notion to which President Donald Trump himself agreed in a White House briefing a couple of months later. … [Read more...] about Reality check for US in trade tug of war
