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Showing posts with the label Exports

Countering the Negative Influence of the American Dollar on Exports

The trade gap bumped to $46.6 billion in December from $39.8 billion in November showing a move in the wrong direction. Exports are somewhat complex and even though new businesses have been recently attracted back to American shores they have not yet taken hold in full force. Likewise, the rise of the value of the American dollar means that exports are expensive and imports cheaper. Despite the damaging effect of a higher dollar there is something that can be done to counter this impact and improve exports. It should first be remembered the any number and any dollar is subjective in value. This means that its value is only as good as it relates to some other item. For example, the number two is a higher number than one but both are relative to the other. One must still relate to some measure such as inch, centimeter, etc... that reflects an actual distance in our environment. The same can be said for the dollar that is compared against some other metric to determine its value. One

American Automakers Win WTO Complaints-Are Tariffs a Wise Chinese Policy?

The economy is a hot topic in today’s society as the American economy starts to show signs of sputtering to life. Recently, American automakers won a significant WTO case concerning Chinese tariffs on American-made cars and sport utility vehicles. According to the complaint, tariffs ranged from 2% to 21.5% on large cars starting in 2011 that impacted nearly two-thirds of $8.5 billion worth of U.S. Auto Exports ( 1 , 2 ).   American manufacturers and officials lodged the complaint as an unfair practice within the global economy and sought a level trading field. It is believed that the duties were implemented by China in retaliation for an American 2009 enactment of an anti-dumping duty of up to 35% on imported tires ( 3 ). The WTO also backed the U.S. anti-dumping program due to the unfair practice related to pushing cheap Chinese products on the market. Lower than cost products are viewed as an attempt to game the free market and damage American manufacturing capacity. I