That’s the rationale, according to the Association of Global Automakers, as quoted in Car and Driver! Mr. Trump declares Section 232 tariffs for automobiles.
Thus, the Secretary found that American-owned automotive R&D and manufacturing are vital to national security. Yet, increases in imports of automobiles and automobile parts, combined with other circumstances, have over the past three decades given foreign-owned producers a competitive advantage over American-owned producers.
The import quota rents that is. From Brian Riley/NTUF:
I have no idea if they’re a particularly good predictor of recessions, but January sales have fallen 40% relative to a year previous…
Down, down, down. 10yr-3mo at 0.86% at 2pm today. See Jim’s post for more on the spread.
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Not spectacular.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced yesterday that U.S. real GDP grew at a 1.9% annual rate in the fourth quarter, well below the historical average of 3.1% per year, but close to the 2.1% average since the recovery from the Great Recession began in 2009:Q3.
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Voluntary Export Restraint (VER)
With Robert Lighthizer going to USTR, it’s useful to remember that he was “implementer” of many VER’s, or “Voluntary Export Restraints” on steel imports, during his last stint at USTR during the Reagan Administration.
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The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced yesterday that U.S. real GDP grew at a 2.9% annual rate in the second quarter. That’s below the historical average U.S. growth rate of 3.1% per year. Even so, this was the best report in the last two years.
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The Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that U.S. real GDP grew at a 2.3% annual rate in the second quarter. You can’t describe the new data as favorable, but I’m still hopeful about what comes next.
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The latest issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives had a very interesting symposium on the costs and benefits of the various bailouts implemented during the Great Recession.
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