Elizabeth Williamson, reporting on the United States-South Korea trade deal, writes that leaders of the two nations have reached an agreement in which the United States will gradually phase out a 2.5 percent tariff it imposes on cars built in Korea. Williamson writes:

The pact gives a boost to Mr. Obama’s efforts to double U.S. exports by 2015 and to build support with the nation’s biggest multinational corporations. Leaders of these companies have been concerned that Mr. Obama hasn’t been pushing hard enough to expand trade-opening deals, particularly in Asia, even as the European Union and other trading rivals

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Reporting on President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia, The Washington Post’s Scott Wilson and Howard Schneider reported on November 12th:

Administration officials say the nearly complete South Korea deal, which Obama inherited from the George W. Bush administration, would increase exports of U.S. goods by $10 billion annually and support 70,000 jobs in the United States.

While it is true that the free trade agreement would be great for the U.S. economy, any assertion that the agreement is not “complete” (in this case “nearly complete”) is just plain false. President George Bush signed a full agreement with South Korea three years … Continue Reading

Reporting on a new study from Tufts University on the deleterious effects of US farm subsidies on Mexican farming, New York Times reporter Elisabeth Malkin wrote on December 15th:

When American companies cannot compete against imports that they believe are being “dumped” at below-market prices, they are quick to demand remedies from Washington, usually in the form of punitive tariffs. These days, the alleged culprit is often China.

But try looking at things from south of the border and the picture shifts. There, the culprit is just as likely to be the United States, particularly when it comes to agriculture.

While Malkin’s … Continue Reading

A November 29th Associated Press article reports that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has pressured the NBA to drop Adidas as the league’s official uniform supplier because the German company plans to move production of NBA gameday jerseys from upstate New York to Thailand:

Schumer planned to publicly urge the leadership of the NBA on Sunday to intervene and stop Adidas from moving production of the league’s official uniforms to Thailand, or pull out of its contract with the sports apparel giant.

Schumer said not only is “an all-American product” at stake, but also about 100 jobs at American Classic Outfitters’ factory

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Reporting on the unexpected narrowing of the US trade deficit in September 2009, a non-bylined October 9th BBC piece uses the headline “Weak dollar improves US trade gap.”

The BBC headline implies that the shrinking trade deficit is a “good thing” for the US economy. In so doing, the BBC perpetuates the myth that an expanding trade deficit reflects weakness in the US economy, and, by extension, that this weakness is caused by imports. In reality, there is a strong correlation between an expanding US trade deficit and GDP growth, not shrinkage, as US businesses and workers … Continue Reading

Reporting on President Barack Obama’s decision to impose tariffs on tires made in China, Reuters‘ Matt Spetalnick and Jeremy Pelofsky reported on September 12th:

“This is simply about enforcing the rules of the road and creating a trade system that is based on those rules and is fair for everybody,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters on Air Force One as President Barack Obama traveled to talk about his health care initiative.
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“For trade to work for everybody, it has to be based on fairness and rules,” Gibbs said. “We’re simply enforcing those rules and we expect the Chinese to

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