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The Jones Act: An Important Capability We Must Protect

  By Cdr. Rich Kavanaugh (Ret), former Chief of Regional Affairs, Office of International Affairs at U.S. Coast Guard   During World War II, the U.S. Merchant Fleet consisted of 4,221 ships and there were 221 shipyards operating in the U.S. This capability allowed for the largest movement of war materials in the history of […]

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Epic Fail: Trump’s trade policy in a nutshell

  “Trump’s Trade Policy Has Produced Damaging Tariffs but Little Else” By Daniel Griswold, courtesy of the Mercatus Center   Americans are about to enter the third full year of President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff regime, which aims to promote US manufacturing, protect key industries, and prompt other nations to reduce their trade barriers. So, […]

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Hungary Squares the Circle of Globalization

    By Erik Sass, TES Editor-in-Chief   What does a smallish Central European country have to teach the rest of the world about inclusive growth, fighting income inequality, and social cohesion, all while steering clear of protectionism and maintaining an open economy – in short, “squaring the circle” of globalization? In the case of […]

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Brexit uncertainty cost UK new Tesla gigafactory

  “Brexit uncertainty means Tesla choses Germany for European for new factory” By Professor David Bailey, courtesy of UK In a Changing Europe   Last week Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that Brexit uncertainty was a factor in the firm’s decision to build its first major European factory near Berlin in Germany rather than the […]

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China Loses, Mexico Wins? Not So Fast!

  “China Loses, Mexico Wins?” By Manuel J. Molano, courtesy of IMCO and El Sol de México   Last September, Shannon O’Neil published an article in Bloomberg that said Mexico should benefit from the US trade war with China. O’Neil mentioned the openness of the Mexican economy, which is higher as a percentage of GDP than […]

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High tariffs benefit a few high flyers – and that’s it

  “Higher Tariffs Benefit Certain CEOs, But Almost Nobody Else” By Daniel Griswold, courtesy of the Mercatus Center   A big reason why tariffs are so tempting to politicians is that the costs they impose on the economy are diffused. These costs are spread across millions of households and thousands of businesses, forcing them to […]

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New Protectionism: Still Protectionism and Bad Economics

        By Veronique de Rugy, courtesy of the Mercatus Center   For several years now, news headlines have reflected anxieties about the effects of globalization and freeing trade: Will jobs evaporate? Does China have an “unfair” advantage? Is the middle class disappearing? These fears need to be addressed, because they have resulted […]

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How I learned to stop worrying and love AI

  “Artificial intelligence will be good for workers” By Gaël Campan and Luc Vallée, courtesy of MEI   Are machines going to steal our jobs? That is the question that keeps popping up in light of the rapid progress of artificial intelligence (AI). Research shows, however, that such fears about the adverse impact of AI […]

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Trump tariffs are HURTING – not helping – U.S. steelmakers

                            There’s sublime irony and then there’s just shooting yourself in the damn foot. The impact of the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on foreign steel comes closer to the second category, considering that they are directly harming the very U.S. […]

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Is ECB stimulus too late?

                        While monetary “hawks” tend to reject any further monetary easing from the European Central Bank like the plague, doveish types are afraid that the ECB’s latest round of easing didn’t go far enough, and may have come too late anyway. The doves’ point […]