Can Trump Withdraw US From WTO as He Wishes?

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/29/2018 08:06:00 PM
Are the WTO's days numbered with Trump desiring that the US leave it? Well, it always was bound to come down to this: I have discussed about how various US trade actions on aluminum, steel, automobiles and heaven knows what else are flat-out WTO-illegal. These Section 232 actions on dubious "national security" grounds and Section 301 actions on equally questionable claims about righting US trade partners' injurious trade policies predate the WTO. Indeed, Trump's US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer who was renowned for using these actions was last in government when Ronald Reagan was in power. A common thread here...
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One Belt, One Empire? PRC's Sri Lankan Port

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in at 6/26/2018 06:17:00 PM
A port in Sri Lanka made by China and now owned by it shows dangers in borrowing from the PRC for infrastructure. A continuing thread I've been investigating is the PRC's grandiose One Belt, One Road Initiative, lately abbreviated to the Belt and Road Initiative. Its stated intention is to restore the commercial infrastructure of the historic Silk Road which stretched from China all the way to the Middle East. To this end, the Chinese government has been spending a lot on infrastructure projects in many developing countries stretching from the Far to the Middle East. It cuts both ways: developing countries are keen on...
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Trade Wars & Impending Death of American Soy

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in , at 6/20/2018 04:21:00 PM
  There's a saying that you get the leaders you deserve, and it seems American soybean farmers have voted to put themselves out of business.  Overwhelmingly carrying states where soybean farmers are located, Trump is hellbent on rewarding his voters with economic misfortune. Given Trump's radically anti-China campaign rhetoric, let's say this turn of events is of no surprise to no one. What's more, the export of soybeans was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal agricultural industry: Soybean-producing counties went for Trump by a margin of more than 12 percent, according to a Washington Post analysis... Like...
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US Against the World: Three-Front Trade War

♠ Posted by Emmanuel in ,,, at 6/01/2018 07:25:00 PM
Military historians generally believe that World War II was lost by the Germans waging a two-front war. In the West, it fought against the UK, France, and the rest while it simultaneously fought Russia in the East. Not being a close follower of military history, Donald "Trade Wars are Good and Easy to Win" Trump has now  simultaneously declared war not on two but three fronts: against China (by vowing to make good on slapping tariffs on $50B worth of Chinese imports), the European Union, and North America (by not renewing exemptions from steel and aluminum in June). Can Trump Make America Great Again through US Against...
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