In the 1980s and 1990s, Chicken Littles warned that Japan was buying up America. The biggest symbol that our country couldn’t keep up with Japan’s managed-trade policies was the 1989 purchase of New York’s Rockefeller Center by Mitsubishi. Even though the sky didn’t fall, protectionist Chicken Littles are at it …
Consider these recent print headlines: Economic Growth Slowed by Trade Gap; Economic Growth Cut Sharply Due to Trade Gap; and Economy Slows to 1.6 Percent as Trade Gap Widens. The people who wrote those headlines and the corresponding articles must have awfully short memories. Last year, the trade deficit fell …
Many states offer “tax holidays” for shoppers during the back-to-school season, but families everywhere still pay extra at the checkout counter due to hidden import taxes that increase the price of everything from sneakers to baseball caps. We have produced a graphic to help you visualize those import tax rates …
If Congressman Peter Defazio (D–OR), sponsor of the End the Trade Deficit Act, had grown up in Kansas instead of Massachusetts, he might have learned a valuable lesson from an association called the Kansas Agri-Women. In 1978, this group started placing billboards across the state proclaiming, “One Kansas farmer feeds …
On July 13, the government released international trade statistics for the first five months of the year showing a growing trade deficit—and almost no one got the story right. Here are some examples: “Trade Deficit Gets even Worse,” announced the July 13, 2010 Yahoo! Finance headline. “Trade Deficit’s Increase Seen …
President Barack Obama recently announced the appointment of 20 private-sector members to the President’s Export Council. Although the President promised to provide Americans an “unprecedented level of openness in Government,” the White House announcement did not mention the numerous financial connections between President Obama and his appointees. To correct that …
President Barack Obama recently promised that his Administration will be “going to bat” for U.S. exporters. A look at his specific recommendations suggests that the country would be better off if he stuck to golf. For example, President Obama promised improved access to credit to exporters through the Export-Import Bank …
