Forbes (May 6)
“The trade war with China has pushed worries about supply chains from the No. 19 spot in 2017 to No. 12 in 2018. Companies in North America rate it at No. 8, mostly because of the new Nafta. The sharp rise in rankings for all things trade related shows that either companies have been preparing for this moment, or are worried that they are not prepared enough.”
Wall Street Journal (September 19)
“If Mr. Trump wants to change Chinese behavior, he should first finish a new Nafta, drop his blunderbuss steel tariffs on allies, forget new auto tariffs, negotiate a zero tariff deal with Europe, and re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” Then he could “lead a coalition to confront Xi Jinping from a position of strength with targeted trade enforcement rather than scattershot tariffs. The real worry is that Mr. Trump supports tariffs for their own sake, and he may not want a China deal. With Donald Trump and trade, you never know.”
Institutional Investor (June 27)
“Further escalation between the U.S. and China could make U.S. Treasuries less dependable.” But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. “Every trade is financed…. Trade and capital flows are part and parcel of a complex system. Mess with trade flows and there will be ‘unintended’ impacts on capital flows. Equally, disturb capital flow and there will be an impact on trade flows.” As trade issues also flare up with NAFTA and Brexit, it’s “no wonder equity markets are volatile.”
Tags: Brexit, Capital flows, China, Equity markets, Escalation, Impacts, Nafta, Trade, Treasuries, U.S., Unintended, Volatile
Wall Street Journal (May 25)
“President Trump wants everyone to know he is a master trade negotiator, but this week his volleys look more like a mess than mastery. His China policy is all over the place, Nafta is in jeopardy, and his new threat to impose a 25% tariff on auto imports undercuts his foreign policy and economic goals.”
Tags: Auto imports, China policy, Economic goals, Foreign policy, Jeopardy, Mess, Nafta, Tariff, Threat, Trade negotiator, Trump, Volleys
Washington Post (December 7)
Moving the embassy to Jerusalem could have been used “as a leverage for peace.” Instead, Donald Trump “used it to smash crockery in the region,” which “pretty well summarizes the Trump Doctrine.” Any so called successes “have been things Trump has undone (the Paris climate accord, the Trans-Pacific Partnership) or is in the process of undoing (the Iran nuclear deal, NAFTA). Relations have soured with Britain, continental Europe and countries from Mexico to Australia.” Meanwhile, Russia is gaining power and “the terrorist threat is decentralizing rather than dissipating.”
Tags: Australia, Crockery, Embassy, Europe, Iran nuclear deal, Jerusalem, Leverage, Mexico, Nafta, Paris climate accord, Peace, Russia, Smash, Terrorist threat, TPP, Trump, UK
The Economist (October 21)
“Populism’s wave has yet to crest.” Yet the gestures Trump is making “to his angry base” are unlikely to bring relief. “The demise of NAFTA will disproportionately hurt the blue-collar workers who back Mr Trump. Getting tough on immigrants will do nothing to improve economic conditions.” Instead, “mainstream parties must offer voters who feel left behind a better vision of the future, one that takes greater account of the geographical reality behind the politics of anger.”
Tags: Anger, Blue collar, Gestures, Immigrants, Mainstream, Nafta, Populism, Trump, Vision, Voters
Wall Street Journal (July 20)
“President Trump campaigned on tearing up Nafta, but maybe he’s learning on the job. The White House this week rolled out its objectives for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement that could allow him to claim victory without doing too much protectionist damage.”
Tags: Campaign, Free trade, Nafta, Protectionist damage, Renegotiating, Trump, Victory
