Free Republic

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade Grant Aldonas has stirred controversy among struggling American business firms with his speech at the East-West Center in Hawaii on August 20. The East-West Center is notorious for its support of appeasement policies towards China, and Aldonas played to that by saying Americans should "resist demonizing China" on trade issues. Indeed, according to the East-West Center press release, Aldonas may have fallen into a "blame America first" posture. He is quoted as saying, "We can't slip into the category of pointing fingers at them. It...

<p>The United States has lodged an appeal with the World Trade Organization over a ruling that its tariffs on steel imports violate global trade laws.</p> <p>The appeal was filed Monday afternoon, just hours before a meeting scheduled to adopt the report formally, a WTO official said. The meeting was adjourned to await the outcome of the appeal.</p>

<p>After all George Bush has done for steel, the United Steelworkers of America yesterday returned the favor and endorsed Richard Gephardt for President. Call it more evidence, if any more were needed, that the Administration's decision to impose 30% tariffs on steel imports last year was a major economic and political blunder.</p>

Business Meets Its Match U.S. corporations get their way at home. But the old charm isn't working in the Old World. For decades the American chemical industry has put tens of thousands of substances on the market and into the environment with little interference from the U.S. government. What a surprise, then, to come up against the new Europe. The European Union, concerned that it does not have health or environmental data on the majority of the compounds now in use, is crafting legislation that by 2005 will require the industry to conduct extensive safety tests on 30,000 common...

The Myth of "Exporting Jobs" by William L. Anderson [Posted June 27, 2003] As U.S. trade deficits continue to pile up, and as the economy continues in its slow-growth patterns, a number of economic commentators have been accusing American corporations of causing the trouble by "exporting jobs." Now, given the bounty of economic myths that economists and media pundits seem to foist upon us, one should not be surprised at anything we read in the academic literature or popular press, but the newest set of fallacies that we are hearing is especially insidious. In his path-breaking Principles of Economics, Carl...

WASHINGTON — From the outset, the domestic steel industry has hailed President Bush’s decision last year to hike tariffs, crediting the temporary boost in duties with stabilizing prices and allowing troubled companies to restructure. But this week, the U.S. International Trade Commission heard a different story from more than a dozen steel-using companies, whose representatives painted a dire picture of the harm caused by import fees. “The steel tariffs have handcuffed us with the highest steel prices in the world, and that threatens our competitive position as a global supplier,” said Timothy D. Leuliette, chairman and chief executive officer of...

In the Liberian town of Redemption last week the bodies of the dead littered the main street. Aid workers with Médecins Sans Frontières described a smell of death hanging over the town. 'People have come from camps where the last food distribution was months ago,' said Alain Kassa. 'They have again been fleeing for six days with nothing to eat. Here in the city they won't even find the bits and pieces of food that they can gather in the bush.' Kassa was describing Liberia, but his words could just have easily been applied to the Democratic Republic of Congo,...

WTO softwood ruling favours Canada Last Updated Tue, 27 May 2003 17:01:32 OTTAWA - The World Trade Organization has ruled in favour of Canada in its softwood lumber dispute with the United States. The preliminary ruling, which is not binding, was released to the federal government Tuesday. "Yet again, it appears that the U.S. is being told that its attempts to prove our softwood industry is subsidized are flawed," International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew said in a news release. A final report on the dispute is expected in July. The crux of the dispute is an American claim that Canada's...

In response to the publication of my book, The Real Lincoln, I’ve had quite a few letters from admirers of Pat Buchanan’s book, A Republic, Not An Empire, who tell me that they are persuaded by my argument that America began its transformation from a constitutional republic to an empire in 1865. But they disagree with my criticisms of the hyper-protectionist policies of Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party of the mid and late nineteenth century. The letter writers seem to sincerely believe that protectionist policies that force Americans to "buy American" are not only patriotic, but good for the...

<p>When it comes to caffeine sources, I prefer coffee. But every once in a while I have a can of cola.</p> <p>I don't like it, however. It gives me the jitters. I drank a can the other day and shortly afterward I felt dizzy and lightheaded.</p>

<p>Little more than a year ago, on March 5, 2002, President Bush made a serious mistake by imposing tariffs on imported steel. At the time, there were many, including myself, who said the negative impact of this action on steel consumers would be much greater than any benefit to steel producers. Thus the economy as a whole would suffer. In the time since, this prediction has been borne out by experience.</p>

WASHINGTON MARCH 27. The World Trade Organisation has ruled that steel tariffs imposed by the U.S. President George W. Bush last year to protect the American industry from a surge of imported steel violated international trade rules. The WTO was acting on complaints by the EU and major steel producers and exporters in Asia and Latin America. A U.S. trade official yesterday said they intended to appeal, which could take many months and would perhaps last till the end of the three-year life of the current U.S. tariffs. The main thrust of the complaints by the EU, Japan, Brazil, China...

An early symbol of South Carolina's independent streak has been returned to the state after more than 160 years. An 1833 flag from a militia group called the Abbeville Dragoons has been donated to the Confederate Relic Room and Museum by a Mississippi woman whose great-great-great-grandfather left South Carolina with the flag in 1859. Officials probably will send the banner to a Maryland flag conservation company for preservation, then put it on display in the museum in about six weeks. The hand-painted silk banner, 20¼ inches by 25¾ inches, shows a palmetto tree and the state seal on the front....

US told to play by trade rules EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy on Monday called on the US to "play by the rules" in international trade disputes, saying that European officials are running out of patience. "Thus far Europe has held off on retaliation (unlike the US, which imposed sanctions on hormones and bananas at lightning speed)," Lamy said in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that appeared during the first day of a visit here. "But without concrete steps toward compliance, that is not a situation which can be maintained for much longer." Lamy wrote that meetings...

<p>HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Vietnamese catfish exporters on Saturday hailed a decision by the U.S. Commerce Department to lower import tariffs on some Vietnamese frozen fillets, calling it a positive step in resolving a trade dispute between the two nations.</p>

CLEWISTON, Fla. - This town that citrus and sugar built seems to have stepped straight out of a movie set from the 1950s. Life revolves around high school football, church bake sales - and the U.S. Sugar Corp., which manages the orange groves and sugar cane fields that are the mainstay of the local economy. But globalization is catching up with even sheltered Clewiston. Not only have restaurants like La Azteca and Julio's Cafe Tropical sprung up alongside Wal-Mart, but now a distant threat has emerged. Under the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas, tariffs on orange juice could...

DETROIT (Reuters) - A group of automotive suppliers said on Monday that the Bush administration's protective tariffs on foreign steel have driven up their costs, forcing them to cut jobs and consider importing steel and other materials. The companies, who are some of the largest purchasers of U.S. steel, said they may import more steel from countries that are exempt from the tariffs, such as Brazil, Argentina and Turkey. They may also import parts that use steel, they said. "Wherever possible, we will purchase finished goods from non-U.S. suppliers whose steel costs are lower," said Jeff Stoner, vice president of...

European copyright protection is expiring on a collector's trove of 1950's jazz, opera and early rock 'n' roll albums, forcing major American record companies to consider deals with bootleg labels and demand new customs barriers. Already reeling from a stagnant economy and the illegal but widespread downloading of copyrighted music from the Internet, the recording companies will now face a perfectly legal influx of European recordings of popular works. Copyright protection lasts only 50 years in Europe compared to 95 years in the United States, even if the recordings were originally made and released in America. So recordings made in...

Angry Mexican farmers are threatening to block U.S.-Mexico border crossings on New Year's Day to protest the lifting of tariffs on agricultural products under free trade rules. The farmers say they fear they will not be able to compete with U.S. and Canadian producers when tariffs are removed on January 1 as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The farmers and their supporters are calling on the Mexican government to do more to protect the agricultural sector. President Vicente Fox refuses to re-negotiate the free trade agreement, but he has pledged to help the farmers compete with...

Taxpayers have come to the rescue of the car industry again, funding a $4.2 billion assistance package and paying inflated prices for cars to protect local manufacturers. The Prime Minister, John Howard, will today announce an extension of the Government's automotive industry assistance package beyond 2005. It includes $420 million funding a year for 10 years, a continuation of the Automotive Competitiveness and Investment Scheme. The existing $2.8 billion scheme, which provides production subsidies, expires in 2005. Tariffs on imported cars will drop from 10 per cent to 5 per cent in 2010. The Government has also set up a...