You are here

Business

The Trade Wars Begin: China Retaliates To Steel Tariffs With Global Anti-Dumping Duties

The Trade Wars Begin: China Retaliates To Steel Tariffs With Global Anti-Dumping Duties

When looking back in history, December 23, 2015 may be the date the global trade wars officially began. On that day, as we reported at the time, the U.S. imposed a 256% tariff on Chinese steel imports.

It did so perhaps with good reason: with its local end markets mothballed, China was desperate to dump as much excess capacity as possible offshore with shipments of steel, oil products and aluminum all reaching new highs according to trade data from the General Administration of Customs, and the result was a dramatic drop in US prices.

No Rebound Here

No Rebound Here

The most important aspect of the US economy - consumption - appears to face a headwind as despite "awesome" jobs data, exuberant Manufacturing surveys, and talking heads fighting each other to come up with the most superlative superlatives for the US economy, UMIch exposes the fact that income growth expectations for Americans (the ones that are throwing their support behind Trump and Sanders) continues to slide.

All that post-QE3 "hope" is gone...

 

And Year-over-year shows no rebound here...

h/t @DougTee

 

Rebutting Matt O'Brien's and the Washington Post's Misguided Attack on Gold

Rebutting Matt O'Brien's and the Washington Post's Misguided Attack on Gold

It is our mission to rebut any mainstream article that spreads misinformation about gold and/or shows a gross misunderstanding of monetary history. In Matt O’Brien’s “Wonkblog” in the Washington Post on February 23, 2016, titled “This might be Ted Cruz’s worst idea“, he does both. The ‘worst idea’ in this case refers to the Texas Senator’s view that it would be to the benefit of the US economy to return to a gold standard.

Pages