One of the very first things Donald Trump did after becoming president was to pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Now, he…
TPP
CARRYING A BIG STICK
Donald Trump’s war on Canadian lumber socialism is business as usual for US presidents
The Trump administration took its first truly protectionist step yesterday, but its target wasn’t China or Mexico. Instead, the US Commerce Department issued a preliminary…
MISSING MUNCHIES
Stock up on your favorite Japanese potato chips while you still can
This is not a drill. Japan is suffering from a major potato-chip shortage. Japanese snack makers like Calbee are suspending production of certain flavors of…
FOR REAL?
Xi Jinping is angling to fill the world leadership void left by Trump. Here’s a reality check
The first meeting between US president Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping today (April 6) brings together two men who have been sending the…
SOFT POWER
Killing free trade will rob the world of a highly effective deterrent to war
Donald Trump, like populists around the world, says that free trade destroys local jobs and harms economic growth. These claims are disputable, but they miss…
FOLLOW ME
Chinese president Xi Jinping has vowed to lead the “new world order”
Chinese president Xi Jinping has vowed for the first time that China should take the lead in shaping the “new world order” and safeguarding international…
TOUGH SELL
One Toyota dealership in California sells more than all the American cars sold in Japan
If president Donald Trump wants to lower the United States’ nearly $70 billion trade deficit with Japan, he shouldn’t count on American cars to do…
TEA LEAVES
Three signals that Donald Trump isn’t going to renegotiate NAFTA
As Donald Trump lunches with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, reportedly to talk about the future of global trade, it’s worth assessing whether or not…
WHACK-A-MOLE
Trump is busy insulting Australia while his defense chief attempts to repair ties in Tokyo and Seoul
There is arguably no better American ally than Australia, which has fought alongside the US in every single major war since World War I. Ties…
DEALMAKER IN CHIEF
Everything you need to know about NAFTA as Trump prepares to take aim at it
Donald Trump has made perfectly clear that he doesn’t like the North American Free Trade Agreement, calling it “the single worst trade deal ever approved…
(NOT) MADE IN THE USA
Your sneakers are a case study in why Trump’s America-first trade policy is nonsense
Americans love their sneakers, and are willing to pay a high price for a pair they love. But what many shoppers don’t know is that…
CHY-NA
When it comes to China, Trump is stuck in the 1980s, thanks to the Cold War-era advisors surrounding him
US president-elect Donald J. Trump said that he doesn’t want to be “bound by a ‘one China’ policy,” the US’s decades-long stance of treating Taiwan…
