Trade Deficit Up, Employment Growth Weak in Latest Government Figures
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
A strong rise in April’s trade deficit and lackluster growth in May employment figures underscore the challenges facing the Trump Administration as it tries to piece together an economic growth strategy.
CPA Testimony: How Tax Reform Will Grow Our Economy and Create Jobs
The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) appreciates the opportunity to provide testimony to the Committee on Ways and Means regarding the likely impact of tax reform on the US economy. CPA is a national,...
CPA Testimony: Omnibus Report on Significant Trade Deficits - CPA2017
The Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA) appreciates the opportunity to provide testimony to the US Department of Commerce regarding the impact of significant bilateral deficits on the US economy. CPA is a national, non-partisan...
In Praise of William J. Baumol, Economist Who Identified Market Imperfections
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
On May 4th, Professor William J. Baumol died at the age of 95. He was a prodigious writer and innovator in economic theory, author of some 500 papers over the more than half a century he taught at Princeton University and NYU.
Upcoming Commerce Department Hearings To Give New Impetus To Battle To Fix Trade
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
The Trump Administration’s views on some issues (think health care) has evolved over recent months. But on foreign trade, the Administration has consistently stuck to Donald Trump’s pre-election view that past trade deals have been a lousy deal for the U.S. worker and they...
Border-Adjustable Taxes, The Dollar and Alternatives
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director, and Michael Stumo, CEO of CPA
The Republican business tax reform plan, also known as the House GOP Blueprint or the Ryan-Brady plan, features a type of border-adjustable tax (BAT).
Don’t Believe What They Tell You About Foreign Investment
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
We often hear of state and federal officials chasing after foreign investment dollars, trying to bring money into the U.S.
Trump Administration Focuses on Trade Enforcement
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
The Trump Administration is getting tough with foreign nations that don’t play by the rules of free and fair trade. That’s the message we’re getting from Administration sources.
British Trade Boost Shows Currency Devaluation Works
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
Establishment free traders often claim trade policy reform is futile, urging us instead to simply trust the free market. Recent experience in Britain shows that one trade policy—currency devaluation—does work, and pretty quickly too. Despite imports growing more expensive, both consumption and exports increased.
...Trump’s Executive Orders Will Help Manufacturing Revival
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
On Friday, President Trump announced two executive orders that look like the beginning of a major offensive on trade policy. “Today….I set the stage for a great revival of American manufacturing,” the President said in Friday’s White House briefing.
Support House Resolution 37: Eliminate The U.S. Trade Deficit!
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
Two forward-thinking congressmen have introduced a congressional resolution urging the federal government to eliminate the U.S. trade deficit. This would be a major step forward in U.S. economic policy and a crucial step towards rebuilding the U.S. economy and restoring the American Dream of...
Aggressive Trump Trade Strategy Begins To Emerge
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
Two developments in recent days provide an early indication that the Trump Administration is determined to take a new approach to international trade. And it looks like this new approach is aggressively focused on trade agreement reform and policies that could lead to higher U.S...
China Targets World Leadership in Microchips
Jeff Ferry, Research Director, CPA
The decision last month by microchip manufacturer GlobalFoundries to build a chipmaking plant in China reinforced fears in the U.S. technology industry over China’s ambitious plans to become a major player in the world semiconductor industry.
January Trade Deficit Surge Driven By Rising China, Japan, Germany Deficits
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
The United States’ trade deficit surged 12% in January 2017 to hit $48.5 billion, its highest level in almost five years.
Why a Trade War Won’t Happen…But We Would Win If It Did
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
There has been lots of talk of the danger of “trade wars” in newspapers in recent months. The Trade War Alarmists are likely wrong.
Economic Analysis: Re-Exports Are Not Real Exports
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
Today the CPA published a new article on the U.S.’s Top Ten Bilateral Deficit Nation Trading Partners featuring the latest data for last year. You can read it here. In a nutshell, our trade deficit in goods has increased twenty-fold in the last 25...
Economic Analysis: America’s Top 10 Trade Deficit Countries: A Closer Look
By Jason Cooper, CPA Research Assistant
In 2016 the U.S. ran an overall $946 billion trade deficit* in goods, seven times the 1992 level. In the 23 years from 1992 to 2016, the deficit has risen dramatically, from 1.3% of our GDP to 5.1%. Our global goods deficit is driven...
Fixing the Bloated Dollar
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
The fear is growing that a rising dollar could sabotage any effort by the Trump Administration to improve the U.S. trade balance as a means of improving the health of our manufacturing industry.
CPA Commentary: More Economists and Leading Politicians Recognize the Trade Problem
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
Sometimes the victories come so thick and fast, you have to sit down, take a deep breath, and count them.
Trade Deficit Hits Four-Year High
By Jeff Ferry, CPA Research Director
The United States trade deficit for 2016 rose to $502.3 billion, its highest level since 2012, as a growing U.S. economy, a rising U.S. dollar, mercantilist practices by many foreign trading partners, and generally lackluster economic growth in foreign markets combined to make the trade...