Oh dear! Staunch trade proponent Fred Bergsten of the Peterson Institute is in bed with radical trade opponent Lori Wallach of Public Citizen in a joint op-ed in the Washington Post today. It seems Bergsten thinks there’s no chance of a legislative cap on CO2 emissions unless the U.S. does something to address the competitiveness issues, and he’s against “border tax adjustments” because of its potentially devastating effect on the world trading system.
That’s the good part. The bad part is…
Uh-oh. Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) is raising the stakes on a U.S. climate bill by endorsing the idea of some sort of tariff on goods from countries that haven’t taken steps to suppress fossil fuel use. According to Reuters, Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, yesterday said:
“We must push our trading partners to do their part to curb harmful emissions and we must devise a border measure, consistent with our international obligations, to prevent the carbon leakage that would occur…
Regulation begets rent-seeking. When government assumes the power to regulate imports, domestic firms will lobby to use that fact to their advantage.
Case in point: Home Products International (HPI), an American company, makes ironing tables. So does Hardware, a Chinese company. I personally have no idea which firm makes the better ironing table. That’s for consumers to decide.
Or at least it should be for consumers to decide. But it doesn’t always work that way in practice. HPI seems to have already…
Is it really easier to work in groups or is it just a way to shift responsibility?
This question is relevant after the recent summit in Pittsburgh, where the G-8 has sort of transformed into the G-20. And even though the G-8 will be still meeting annually as well as the new G-20 format, the world leaders have announced that G-8 is not capable to solve world economic problems alone anymore. Maybe there is a similar reason for Russia to insist…
While this speech is mostly hogwash, I am surprised and delighted to be able to find one thing to praise in it:
Later this week, I will work with my colleagues at the G20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies so that we can better address our climate challenge
This is the right thing to do, for reasons I explained in my recent paper co-written with Sterling Burnett of NCPA (extract follows jump).
While many governments of developed nations argue for a worldwide reduction…
President Obama’s slapping of tariffs on tires imported from China is the latest in a series of protectionist moves by the U.S. that threaten the world trading system, risk retaliation by the U.S.’s largest foreign creditor, and ultimately harm consumers. A Wall Street Journal editorial today titled “A Protectionist President” points out that Obama’s trade stance could be following in the disastrous footsteps of President Hoover.
The reality is that without the U.S. leading by example, the world trading order is likely…
Consumers have been buying a lot of tires made in China lately. Naturally, U.S.-based tire manufacturers are upset at their competitors’ success. Fortunately, there are two ways for the aggrieved American firms to ease their troubled minds:
1: Make better tires for less money. Give consumers a reason to buy American tires rather than Chinese. Compete, in other words.
2: Don’t compete. Too much hard work. Instead, persuade some politicians to place a 35 percent protective tariff on competitors’ tires. Price them…
Even the humble wooden crate cannot escape the government’ watchful regulatory eye. The rules include provisions for:
-Which types of trees from which countries may be used to make crates.
-Bark removal from the logs used to make the crates.
-Pest inspection.
-Heat treatment.
-Fumigation.
-Treated wood must be marked (the Department of Defense is exempt from this requirement).
-There are other rules for bamboo crates.
-And for loose wood.
The $787,000,000,000 stimulus contains a provision requiring the Department of Homeland Security to buy US-made textiles. Basically, that means TSA uniforms will go up in price.
Let’s look at the logic behind this. If DHS would just pay more money for the same product, leaving less money left over for purchasing other goods, we can stimulate the economy. Jobs will be created or saved.
Amazing that some people still think that restricting trade and voluntarily paying higher prices will increase prosperity.
…
So says British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. At a meeting of Canada’s provincial premiers held in Regina, Saskatchewan, last week, slapping retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods was barely averted.
Harper and his Trade Minister Stockwell Day scored an important victory Friday when provincial premiers finally agreed not to retaliate. “We’ve made it clear we won’t ask the U.S. for anything we are not willing to give the U.S.,” said British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell, who attended a meeting of premiers held in…
It looks like things may be moving - slowly — on the trade front. The U. S. Trade Representative has published a notice in the Federal Register asking for comments on the pending U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) is assessing how and to what extent the free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and the Republic of Korea (Korea) signed on June 30, 2007 makes progress in achieving the applicable purposes, policies, priorities, and objectives of…
Today, the World Trade Organization, together with the UN Environment Programme posted a report on trade and climate change that outlines how carbon border taxes may be consistent with WTO rules. It is a very careful discussion of relevant articles, their intent and interpretation, and related WTO cases (though no case has specifically dealt with climate change).
In some cases, the WTO-UNEP discussion reads like “on the one hand, and on the other.” The report is bound to provide environmental groups with…
In his post-Summit of the Americas remarks in Trinidad and Tobago today, President Obama stated his administration’s commitment to improving relations with countries around the hemisphere. He rightly noted how unhelpful it is when other countries’ main interaction with the U.S. is either though military or drug interdiction efforts.
However, he failed to mention an immediate policy to improve both hemispheric relations and economic growth in the region: Commitment to win ratification of pending free trade agreements between the United States…
It seemed like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t have guts, despite his super-macho screen image. Yesterday, however, he wrote to members of the California Congressional Delegation, the country’s most powerful delegation in terms of the key leadership positions they hold, where he urged them to restore the pilot Mexican trucking program to avert trade retaliation.
Schwarzenegger pointed out how Congress’ termination of the program will hurt the economy and jobs, particularly in California:
. . . we must not allow safety to…
I admire Dan Ikenson’s work on trade issues at Cato. Usually I agree with his views. A notable exception is his post yesterday on Cato’s blog – “Too much hysteria about trade.”
No, Dan wasn’t hitting the current climate of China-bashing or the Teamsters’ on-going campaign against Mexican trucking and NAFTA or the “Buy American” provisions in the stimulus bill. Dan instead was taking to task newspapers like the Washington Post that have been warning readers about the rising tide of protectionism in this world…
Your hosts Richard Morrison and Cord Blomquist bring you Episode 32 of the LibertyWeek podcast with special guest Sam Kazman and surprise guest co-host Jeremy Lott. We start by looking into the possible future of the Federal Communications Commission with nominee Julius Genachowski about to ascend to the chairmanship, and then take another stroll through the New Great Depression with high-level financial talks between unpopular British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and über-popular President Barack Obama. Oregonian brewers fight a proposed fifteen…
Good article today by Bloomberg columnist Michael Sesit, who lays out the protectionist actions many countries are taking in the midst of the worldwide economic slump and warns that accelerated trade protectionism would plunge the world into a depression.
Unless governments get serious about arresting the trend soon, the chatter about 2009 morphing into a replay of the Great Depression will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. The U.S. Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 increased duties on more than 20,000 goods, inviting retaliation by…
I revoke my previous apology to the Swiss, and reiterate my previous disapproval. As evidenced by the latest outcome in the U.S. tax case involving UBS, we have moved beyond troubling and into something much worse.
...the world’s largest wealth manager in terms of assets, agreed to pay a $780 million fine and disclose information about some of its clients to settle a landmark U.S. tax case.
As I said in my older post: “In direct contradiction to their own legal view of tax evasion. …
Leggett & Platt, an American innerspring manufacturer, has been busy lobbying the Department of Commerce. The fruit of their labor: a tariff of anywhere from 164.75% to 234.51% on innersprings from China, their biggest competition.
This tariff means that you can expect to pay double for your next mattress. Because innersprings are the most expensive part of traditional mattresses and the tariff has effectively removed affordable, low-priced mattresses from the market.
This is the result of a petition to the International Trade…
Selecting former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as the nominee for U.S. Trade Representative sends a signal that perhaps President-elect Obama will temper his anti-trade stance in the face of real-world economics. Kirk, a two-term elected mayor of Dallas, doesn’t have much trade experience, but he is a native of the U.S.’s largest exporting state, with Mexico and Canada — those nasty NAFTA partners — as Texas’ major export destinations.
The nominee for one of Obama’s Cabinet positions holds a law degree from University…
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