AFL-CIO, "A NAFTA that Works Must Empower Working People, Not Corporations," 2-page overview, June 12, 2017. [2p] Online
    How much lower was US manufacturing employment in 2010 than in 1995? How does this compare to what this source said was the number of manufacturing jobs lost due to trade with China? Answer: The graph shows a drop of about 6 million. The text says that "nearly 1 million" were lost due to trade with China.
  1. How does the example of trade in cars and cheese between the US and France differ from that of US trade with China? Answer: For cars and cheese the countries were already specialized. With the US and China, the US starts as a producer of many things that are then replaced by goods from China, causing loss of jobs along with the access to cheaper imports.
  2. What does it mean that "benefits are diffuse but pain is concentrated" and why does that matter? Answer: Benefits are spread over many people, each gaining little, while costs afflict only a few, who lose a lot. Thus those who lose will not be made whole by sharing the benefits.>

AFL-CIO, "Making NAFTA Work for Working People," full recommendations, June 12, 2017. [43p, but read only pp. 1-29] Online
    Does the AFL-CIO call for rules of origin and require inputs from the United States? Answer: No, only inputs from all three countries, except for one category of "green/energy-efficient parts" that it says are not currently made in Mexico or Canada.
  1. Why do they favor letting governments direct their procurement toward local suppliers? Answer: Procurement is "one of the most important job creation tools the United States has: fiscal policy."
  2. As a labor union, it is not surprising that some of their most detailed recommendations concern labor. What are they, and how do they want them enforced? Answer: They mention the 8 core labor standards of the ILO, and they want countries to enforce their own labor laws. They also want a "floor wage that provides a decent standard of living." And the want "enhanced enforcement tools, such as social dumping tariffs, additional duties for persistent labor violations, and private rights of action.">

AFL-CIO, "NAFTA at 20," March 2014. [19p] Online
    What empirical evidence does this report offer to show that NAFTA was a failure? Answer: Data on how the economies performed since NAFTA went into effect: Low growth in Mexico, falling wages, increased inequality, etc.
  1. What feature of the NAFTA is this report most critical of? Does it offer suggestions for improving that feature? Answer: ISDS, and yes, it makes suggestions, although it clearly would prefer that this feature just be removed.
  2. How do "negative list" and "positive list" approaches differ, and why do they prefer the latter? Answer: When a new rule is agreed upon that will apply, for example, to industries or activities, a negative list specifies those activities to which it will not apply, and it then applies by default to all others, including ones that didn't exist when the rule was drafted. A positive list applies the rule only to specified activities, and the rule therefore does not apply to any others, including ones that come into existence later.>

Arnold, Chris, "China Killed 1 Million U.S. Jobs, But Don't Blame Trade Deals," heard on NPR, All Things Considered, April 18, 2016. [1p] Online
    How much lower was US manufacturing employment in 2010 than in 1995? How does this compared to what this source said was the number of manufacturing jobs lost due to trade with China? Answer: The graph shows a drop of about 6 million. The text says that "nearly 1 million" were lost due to trade with China.
  1. How does the example of trade in cars and cheese between the US and France differ from that of US trade with China? Answer: For cars and cheese the countries were already specialized. With the US and China, the US starts as a producer of many things that are then replaced by goods from China, causing loss of jobs along with the access to cheaper imports.
  2. What does it mean that "benefits are diffuse but pain is concentrated" and why does that matter? Answer: Benefits are spread over many people, each gaining little, while costs afflict only a few, who lose a lot. Thus those who lose will not be made whole by sharing the benefits.>

Autor, David H., David Dorn, and Gordon H. Hanson, "The China Shock: Learning from Labor Market Adjustment to Large Changes in Trade," Annual Review of Economics 8, August 8, 2016, pp. 205-240, but omit Section 3 Theory. [31p] Online
    Is the decline in manufacturing employment in the US something that has only happened since imports from China began to expand? Answer: No. the graph shows that it has been falling steadily since the 1940s.
  1. How have the trade balances of the US and China changed over the last 20-30 years? Answer: The surplus of China and the deficit of the US have both grown.
  2. Was the rise in China's exports (to the US and others) a result of our reducing our tariffs on Chinese exports? If not, what did cause the increase? Answer: No; we didn't reduce our tariffs on China. Several other causes are mentioned here: Privatization required by WTO; reduced restrictions on exports required by WTO; reduced Chinese tariffs that permitted cheaper imported inputs; reduced uncertainty about Chinese future access to foreign markets.
  3. What is the central empirical relationship that this paper cites, expressed in its equation (4)? Answer: The effect of import penetration for commuting zones on employment.
  4. To what extent does Trade Adjustment Assistance and other government tranlisfer programs offset the harm to those who are displaced by imports from China? Answer: Very little, and hardly at all from TAA. The total is estimated to be only about 10% of the loss when one compares the 75th and 25th percentiles.
  5. How quickly do workers displaced by imports find new jobs and do they escape from the adverse effects of imports? Answer: It takes them years, if at all, and even then the lowest skilled/paid of them move to other industries that are vulnerable.>

Baldwin, Robert E., "U.S. Trade Policy since 1934: An Uneven Path toward Greater Trade Liberalization," Working Paper #15397, National Bureau of Economic Research, October, 2009. [32p, but read only Section 5, pp. 25-30] Online
    What two branches of the US government are the main decision-making centers with respect of U.S. trade policy, and what motivates them? Answer: the president or Executive Branch and the U.S. Congress, motivated by both U.S. domestic and foreign policy goals."
  1. How important is the US President in determining trade policy, and how have presidents in the past tended to favor, trade liberalization or protection? Answer: Very important, as illustrated here by references to presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and George Bush (to which I could easily add Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Obama.
  2. How do Republicans and Democrats in Congress typically agree or differ on trade, and how has this changed over the period covered here? Answer: In the 1930s Democrats favored trade and Republicans protection. Today their positions are reversed.>

Bergsten, C. Fred and Joseph E. Gagnon, "The New US Currency Policy," Realtime Economic Issues Watch, Peterson Institute for International Economics, April 29, 2016. [6p] Online
    To what extent do these authors agree that currency manipulation is a problem? Do they agree with the revised criteria that the Treasury Department had stated just prior to this publication? Answer: Yes, they do think currency manipulation is a problem and favor doing something about it. The view the revised criteria as improvements over what had been done previously, but also favor several further changes.
  1. Does this article explain what "enhanced engagement" is supposed to be, and does it say what actions are to be taken if countries that have been identified as currency manipulators do not change their behavior? Answer: No, it does not.
  2. How much emphasis would these authors place on the bilateral trade deficit of a country vis a vis the United States in judging it to be a currency manipulator? Answer: None at all. They want this provision dropped, and they explain why the bilateral imbalance is a meaningless indicator.>

Bernstein, Jared, "Getting straight about the costs of trade," Washington Post, May 12, 2016. [3p] Online
    Trade theory has always acknowledged the costs of trade to those who lose their jobs in competition with imports. The cited work by Autor, Dorn, and Hanson (ADH) identifies another group of losers. Who are they? Answer: Those who work in non-traded industries, such as restaurants, in the communities of the displaced workers.
  1. The author suggests losses also to communities that do not have any industries competing with imports. Why? What does this assume about the nature of the change in trade? Answer: Because labor is to some extent mobile, so that laid off workers in impacted communities will compete for jobs in other communities. This makes sense only if only imports increase. If exports also increase, then this will expand jobs in still other communities, spilling over positively to those that don't confront trade at all.
  2. Does the author recommend that countries like the US should limit trade? If so, how? If not, what does he recommend instead? Answer: No, he seems to accept the net gains from trade and certainly doesn't argue for trade protection. He argues instead (and to address other sorts of labor dislocation as well), for "creating real, substantive, remunerative opportunities for those hurt by trade.">

Bhagwati, Jagdish, "Does the Free Market Corrode Moral Character?" John Templeton Foundation, October 1, 2008. Canvas
    How, according to the author, does globalization reduce child labor? Answer: By raising the incomes of parents so that they can afford to put their kids in school.
  1. How does globalization benefit women? Answer: Two ways are mentioned: By making wage discrimination against them costly, thus lowering the wage differential. And (within multinationals) by bringing women (from Japan) in contact with western values.
  2. Where is there evidence that trade and foreign investment can reduce poverty? Answer: Most obviously in China and India.>

Brown, Drusilla, "Review of Hufbauer and Schott, NAFTA Revisited: Achievements and Challenges" Journal of Economic Literature 45(1), March, 2007, pp. 187-190. Online (J)

    In addition to the textbook gains from trade, what other benefits did proponents of NAFTA expect? What effects on US labor were expected? Answer: (1) tightening the distribution of income within Mexico, (2) upward convergence in the Mexican standard of living toward the U.S. level, (3) reduced Mexican labor migration, (4) adoption of cleaner production processes in Mexico, and (5) efficiency and scale gains from vertical and horizontal industrial integration in North America. And the US labor market was not expected to be impacted.
  1. Does this reviewer agree with the book's authors that NAFTA was largely beneficial? Answer: That's not clear, but she does focus much more on the failure of these extra benefits to occur, and says that the authors overstate the benefits.
  2. Does the article say what NAFTA did in fact to the US labor market? Answer: Not really. She notes that wages, not employment, have been hurt by trade, but she doesn't claim that NAFTA itself was a big enough deal to cause that.>

Davis, Bob and Jon Hilsenrath, "How the China Shock, Deep and Swift, Spurred the Rise of Trump," Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2016. [12p] Canvas
    What was the "China Shock"? What effect did it have on US jobs? Answer: "Imports from China as a percentage of U.S. economic output doubled within four years of China joining the World Trade Organization in 2001." "Chinese competition was responsible for 2.4 million jobs lost in the U.S. between 1999 and 2011. Total U.S. employment rose 2.1 million to 132.9 million in the same period."
  1. Why was the China Shock different from the previous rise in imports from Japan? Answer: The China shock was much broader than the earlier shock from Japan, which was concentrated in just a few industries.
  2. Were tariffs ever used to reduce the impact of the China Shock? Did they work? Answer: This mentions one case of tariffs on imports of furniture, and it didn't stop the industry from declining.>

Deardorff, Alan V., "Benefits and Costs of Following Comparative Advantage," the Sweetland Inaugural Lecture, in Department of Economics, The Economic Outlook for 1998, Forty-Fifth Annual Conference on the Economic Outlook, Ann Arbor, MI, November 20, 1997, pp. 174-215. [42p] Canvas
    The word "advantage" implies a comparison. Why, then, is the term "comparative advantage" not redundant? Answer: Because it involves a double comparison: across goods and across countries.
  1. If it is true that the value of the benefits from trade are indeed larger than the value of the costs, then why would anyone be opposed to trade? Answer: Most costs are incurred by different people than those who enjoy the benefits, so that some people are net losers.
  2. Are there any benefits from trade that are not associated also with some costs? Answer: The answer seems to be no for most of those mentioned here, although the advantages of variety seem not to involve a cost.>

Deardorff, "Introduction to Comparative Advantage," August 27, 2003. Online
    Why is comparative advantage a relative concept in two senses simultaneously? Answer: Because it involves comparing both across goods and across countries.>
  1. With two goods and two countries, how do you identify the good in which a country has a comparative advantage? Answer: With unit labor requirements, find the good for which the ratio of the labor requirement to that of the other good is lower than the same ratio in the other country. With labor productivities, find the good for which the ratio of the productivity to that of the other good is higher than the same ratio in the other country.>
  2. It the wage rate in a country falls due to trade, do workers lose from trade? Answer: No, because prices then also fall by as much or more, leaving the real wage larger.>

Donnan, Shawn, "Can Donald Trump deliver on his threat to pull out of Nafta?" Financial Times, August 28, 2017. [5p] Canvas
    Why may threatening exit from NAFTA be a useful strategy? Answer: Because it will scare Canada and Mexico into making concessions in order to avoid that.
  1. Does the President have the constitutional power to exit NAFTA? Answer: Not according to one trade law expert. Congress has power over tariffs and has only delegated to the president agreeing FTAs, not withdrawing from them.
  2. Why might exiting NAFTA divide Trump's base? Answer: Agricultural states oppose.>

Donnan, Shawn, "Trump's top trade adviser accuses Germany of currency exploitation," Financial Times, January 31, 2017. [5p] Canvas
    Is the value of the euro low? Does that help German exports? Is this the result of Germany's own policies? Answer: Yes to the first two, but no to the third. Germany doesn't control the ECB, and on the contrary has opposed its low interest rates that cause the euro to be low.
  1. What countries had (as of this writing) Trump accused of devaluing their currencies? Answer: China and Japan.
  2. What are the prospects for TTIP (The Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership)? Answer: It's "dead" according to Navarro, and that's consistent with Trump's unwillingness to negotiate with multiple countries on a trade deal.>

Economist, "China and currency manipulation," The Economist, March 2, 2017. [3p] Canvas
    On what basis does the US Treasury Department evaluate whether a currency is being manipulated? On that basis, was the Chinese currency being manipulated to hold down its value, as of this writing? Answer: It uses three indicators: the bilateral trade surplus; the current account surplus; and the amount it spends buying foreign assets. Only the first of these is in the direction of China being a currency manipulator, so no.
  1. Why does the Economist not use the bilateral trade imbalance as an indicator of manipulation? Answer: Because "the value of currencies affects trade globally."
  2. What do they find for the Swiss currency, and why does this indicate how "flawed" these measures are? Answer: They find it the most manipulated, yet in terms of prices it is the most over-valued.>

Economist, "Economists Argue about the Impact of Chinese Imports on America," The Economist, March 11, 2017. [3p] Canvas
    How much of the US fall in manufacturing employment was due to imports from China? Answer: 1/4
  1. On what bases did Rothwell criticize the results of Autor, Dorn, and Hanson? Answer: Their use of import data from Europe rather than the US, the timing of the data, and the way that the results were interpreted by the public.
  2. Why, according to the research cited by Handley and Limao, did trade with China increase as much as it did? Was it our reduction in tariffs? Answer: No. It was the reduced undertainty.>

Economist, "Keep the Costs of Trade in Perspective," The Economist, December 16, 2016. [5p] Canvas
    What did the cited article call "one big policy experiment gone terribly wrong"? Answer: The US letting China's exports to the US expand, which we did first through MFN status and then by admitting them to the WTO."
  1. What have been some causes of deindustrialization other than trade with China? Answer: The piece mentions movement of industry from New Jersey to Puerto Rico, from North to South, and to other countries other than China. And it points to other policies: financial deregulation, top-heavy tax cuts, and misuse of the savings glut. It could also have mentioned technology.
  2. What benefits of trade with China does he say that critics ignore? Answer: Benefits to US consumers and benefits to the population of China.>

Economist, "The North American Free-Trade Agreement renegotiation begins," The Economist, August 17, 2017. [3p] Canvas
    What is being asked for when the US says it wants the agreement to "respect sovereignty"? Answer: That's code for dropping Chapter 19, which lets an international panel cancel AD and cvd duties.
  1. Rules of origin and normal in FTAs, though they can differ in how restrictive they are. But the US desire to require "substantial American content" is different. Why? Answer: Because it specifies content from just one of the countries, not from the group.
  2. Canada retains high restrictions on dairy imports under the current NAFTA. Why might Canada be willing to relax these? Answer: In exchange for concessions by the US, especially "better access to American government contracts.">

Economist, "The Trump administration is investigating Chinese trade practices," The Economist, August 17, 2017. [3p] Canvas
    What US trade law is the Trump administration proposing to use against China on the grounds that it unfairly gains access to US technology? How common has it been recently for the US to use this law? Answer: Section 301. Not common at all. Though used a lot in the 80s and 90s, it has hardly been used at all since 2000
  1. What has happened to other uses of trade policy that were proposed by the Trump administration, specifically the national-security-based safeguard tariffs on steel and aluminum? Why? Answer: These "seem to have fizzled," due to complaints from domestic users and allies.
  2. Is this use of the law permitted under the rules of the World Trade Organization? Answer: This does not say, exactly, but it seems to imply that it is not permitted, since it was used primarily before the WTO went into effect.>

Economist, "Why Germany's current-account surplus is bad for the world economy," The Economist, July 9, 2017. [5p] Canvas
    Why is Germany's surplus a problem for the world? Answer: Because it requires that other run deficits.
  1. What are the cures for Germany's surplus recommended here? Answer: Let wages rise and have the government increase its spending.
  2. Germany attributes its high saving to the need for its aging society to save more. Why does the article say that does not explain it? Answer: Because household saving has been high for year and has not increased. It is firms and government whose saving has risen.>

Faux, Jeff, "Overhauling NAFTA," Viewpoints, Economic Policy Institute, February 29, 2008. Online

    What were the adverse effects that the author attributes to NAFTA? Answer: Gap between wages in the two countries actually widened. Trade surplus turned to chronic deficit ("moving hundreds of thousands of American jobs south of the border."). "Imports of subsidized grain and other agricultural products undercut Mexico's rural economy and drove over 2 million farmers off the land." "Annual illegal immigration from Mexico doubled."
  1. Who has spoken in favor of renegotiating NAFTA? Answer: Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
  2. What is the deal that the author would like the US to negotiate with Mexico as part of renegotiating NAFTA? Answer: A "fund for investment in Mexico," similar to what the Europeans did for Spain, Portugal, Ireland, and Greece, in exchange for "guarantees for free trade unions, enforceable minimum wages, and an increase in education and other social spending.">

Franko, Cloe, "No Corporate Trade Deals," Corporate Accountability International, June 20, 2017. [2p] Online
    Is it clear what are the proposed "incentives for corporations to offshore jobs"? Answer: Not to me.
  1. The mention of NAFTA tribunals seems to refer to the ISDS. Is that in fact included in what USTR is asking for? Answer: Not clear to me that it is.
  2. Was it really a "mobilized movement of people around the world" that stopped the TPP? Answer: No, it was Trump.>

FT View, "Donald Trump beats a retreat over China's currency," Financial Times, April 16, 2017. [3p] Canvas
    This editorial in the British Financial Times is very critical of President Trump. Does it say that Trump was wrong to not name China as a currency manipulator? Answer: No, far from it. They say that China is not, now, manipulating its currency to lower its value, but instead is "propping the renminbi up, not pushing it down."
  1. The US dollar rose in value after the election, something here called the "Trump Trade." What explanation for the rise did Trump himself give? What explanation does this editorial give? Answer: Trump said it was due to "confidence in him." The FT says it was due to expectations of tighter monetary policy.
  2. If Trump had named China a currency manipulator, what would have happened then, according to this? Answer: It "authorises the US to do nothing except negotiate with Beijing over the renminbi, which it is already doing.">

Krugman, Paul, "The China Shock and the Trump Shock," New York Times, December 25, 2016. [1p] Online
    Krugman opposes the policies that Trump might initiate to reverse the growth of trade. Is this because he views the growth of trade as purely beneficial? Answer: No. He accepts that trade has been disruptive, but it was its rapid rate of change, not its level. Reversing that would be rapid change in the other direction, and also be disruptive.>

Landler, Mark, "Blind Spots in Trump's Trade Tirade Against Germany," New York Times, May 30, 2017. [4p] Canvas
    Why does Trump criticize Germany for its trade surplus? Answer: Because it is very large, has been so for a long time, and Germany doesn't seem to want to reduce it. And because he perceives that the surplus hurts jobs in the US.
  1. Who owns the company that exports the most cars by value from the United States? Answer: The German company BMW.
  2. How might Germany change its trade and exchange rate policies to satisfy Trump? Answer: They can't. Trade policy is the responsibility of the EU, not Germany, and the exchange rate of the euro is in the hands of the ECB.>

Lankford, James, "The U.S. trade deficit is a good thing. Really," Washington Post, August 14, 2017. [2p] Online
    In what sense does the author say that a trade imbalance reflects the incomes of the countries? Answer: He says that the US, with a higher per capita income than Mexico, will buy more from them than they buy from us.
  1. How does international investment matter for the trade deficit? Answer: Money flowing in for investment requires that money then flow out for trade, so more inward investment implies a trade deficit.
  2. What prompted this Republican senator to make this argument in favor of the US trade deficit? Answer: The goal of the Trump administration to make reducing the trade deficit with Mexico (and Canada) a goal of renegotiating NAFTA.>

Lester, Simon, Inu Manak, and Daniel Ikenson, "Renegotiating NAFTA in the Era of Trump: Keeping the Trade Liberalization In and the Protectionism Out," Cato Working Paper No. 46, Cato Institute, August 14, 2017. [18p] Online
    The Cato Institute, from which this document comes, is very pro-trade. Does it favor renegotiation of NAFTA? Is it willing to support it? Answer: Not the first, as it would have preferred not to open this up, in fear that it would fail. But since it is happening, it suggest a fair number of sensible changes that it would like to see addressed in the negotiation.
  1. Of the changes that these authors favor, which seem likely to be agreed to by the Trump administration, and which not? Answer: Trump would presumably favor those that might expand US exports, perhaps including e-commerce, services, and Canadian dairy. Since Chapter 20 was blocked by US, I doubt he'd like to see it restored. And regulatory cooperation does not seem likely to be favored by him either. Simplifying rules of origin might be acceptable, but only if they were made much more restrictive.
  2. What are the main areas that the Trump administration seems likely to want where Cato is clearly opposed? Answer: Trigger mechanism for the trade deficit, provision on currency manipulation, and Buy America. Cato also doesn't favor border taxes, but they no seem less likely.)

Mankiw, N. Gregory, "Want to Rev Up the Economy? Don't Worry About the Trade Deficit," New York Times, December 2, 2016. Canvas

    Why does Mankiw view the trade deficit as a "sign of success"? Answer: Because it results from high income and imports, and from being an attractive destination for capital inflows.
  1. How will deregulation, tax cuts, and increased government spending affect the US trade deficit? Answer: These will increase it, as they will attract investment and, by raising interest rates, attract capital inflows.
  2. How would an increase in import tariffs affect exports? Answer: It will reduce them, as reduced imports will cause dollar appreciation.>

McDonnell, Patrick J., "Mexico says it won't renegotiate NAFTA with President Trump via Twitter," Los Angeles Times, August 27, 2017. [2p] Online
    Mexico says here that I will not negotiate "vis social media or the press." How do we know they said this? Answer: From the press.
  1. Who in the US does this article mention as benefiting from NAFTA? Answer: Agriculture and auto manufacturing.
  2. Why does Mexico reject Trump's claim that it has high crime and will pay for the wall? Answer: The crime is due to high demand for drugs in the US. As for paying for the wall, that would violate "a principle of sovereignty and national dignity.">

Panetta, Alexander, "Canada's 10 NAFTA demands: A list of what Canada wants as talks start this week," CBCNews, August 14, 2017. [2p] Online
    There are two special dispute settlement mechanisms in NAFTA, one is the investor-state dispute settlement (Chapter 11) and the other is a way for one country to challenge another's use of anti-dumping and countervailing duties (Chapter 19. Does Canada want to keep, modify, and get rid of these? Answer: Canada says it wants to reform Chapter 11 (though I suspect they'd be glad to get rid of it), but keep unchanged Chapter 19.
  1. What completely new issues does Canada want to include in NAFTA? What issues were part of side agreements to NAFTA that they now want as included in the main agreement? Answer: Gender rights and indigenous rights are the first. Labor standards and environmental standards are the second.
  2. Is Canada now willing to open its market to imports of dairy? Answer: Apparently not, as it wants to keep its supply-management system for that and for poultry, but presumably that could allow for some market opening, allowing in more imports.>

Porter, Eduardo, "Labor Wants to Make Nafta Its Friend. Here's the Problem." New York Times, August 22, 2017. [5p] Canvas
    What does this say is wanted in the NAFTA renegotiation by the AFL-CIO that this author says is "a fairly loopy idea."? What does he say (quoting others) would happen in Mexico if this were done and enforced? Answer: A uniform living wage across the NAFTA countries. Wages would rise only in the formal sector, which would then shrink, and the expanded informal sector would reduce Mexican productivity and wages.
  1. Does he oppose using NAFTA to improve worker rights in Mexico? Answer: No, aside from raising wages, he seems to favor a strong labor right component.
  2. What changes would he like to see in the US? Answer: "serious training programs and more robust safety-net services like, say, extended unemployment insurance and maybe even wage subsidies for workers who end up in lower-paying jobs.">

Posen, Adam, "The errors of conservatives obscure the case for trade," Financial Times, July 22, 2014. Online-Proquest
    When a US factory moves to Mexico and employs 100 workers there, what -- according to the article -- happens to employment in the US? Answer: 250 jobs are added in the US.
  1. How did the unemployment rate in the US compare in the decade following NAFTA to the decade before it? Answer: Unemployment was lower.
  2. The article accepts the estimates of critics that NAFTA imports cost 45,000 jobs a year for two decades. Why doesn't he view that as serious? Answer: Because that amounts to only 0.1 percent of the labor turnover that occurs all the time, since 4m-6m workers leave or lose jobs per month.>

Talley, Ian, "U.S. Treasury Stops Short of Calling China a Currency Manipulator," Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2017. [3p] Canvas
    Since the Treasury chose not to name China as a currency manipulator, did this report therefore say positive things about China's exchange rate policies? Answer: No, it was sharply critical of China's past interventions, saying that they had "imposed significant and long-lasting hardship on American workers and companies."
  1. Over the last twenty years, how many countries have been named as currency manipulators in these semi-annual Treasury reports? Answer: None.
  2. Was the Treasury report critical of any other countries' exchange rate policies? Answer: Yes: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Germany and Switzerland are on a monitoring list. Germany, even though it does not control its own currency.>

USITC, "U.S. Trade Policy since 1934," Chapter 3 in The Economic Effects of Significant U.S. Import Restraints, United States International Trade Commission, August 2009, pp. 59-123 (read only pp. 59-89). [31p] Online
    Explain the meaning and significance of: MFN, GATT, TAA, GSP, VER, Fast Track, TRIPs. Answer: Most Favored Nation, General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, Trade Adjustment Assistance, Generalized System of Preferences, Voluntary Export Restraint, Fast Track = Trade Promotion Authority, Trade Related Intellectual Property rightS. (For significance, see lectures.)
  1. Why have Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) proliferated, and are they beneficial or harmful for the progress of trade liberalization? Answer: A response to growing international trade compared to GDP, especially in intermediate inputs, and also a response to the stalling of multilateral efforts to liberalize. There's disagreement regarding benefits and costs, as some say they reduce incentives to agree and others that they prompt agreement.
  2. Why was the Uruguay Round and WTO considered beneficial for the United States? Answer: Because of the added coverage of services and intellectual property, both of which were regarded as US interests.>

USTR, "Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA Renegotiation," Office of the United States Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President, July 17, 2017. [18p] Online
    Which of these items, if any, seem to move the US in a protectionist direction? Answer: Strengthening rules of origin; eliminating Chapter 19; exceptions on government procurement; perhaps the currency item.
  1. Which of the changes in the existing NAFTA seem likely to reduce the US trade deficit? Answer: If you don't consider what the trade deficit really represents, then you might believe that tightening rules of origin will reduce imports, and that some of the items that target barriers to exports, especially of services, will expand exports. Presumably the currency provision is also intended to do that.
  2. Do any of these provision appear to reverse any of the trade liberalization that was included in the original NAFTA? Answer: Strengthening rules of origin, and perhaps the use of tariffs to respond to violations of labor and environmental standards.>

Verrill, Charles, Jr, "An Introduction to Trade Remedies Available under U.S. Law," memorandum to clients and friends, Weiey, Rein & Fielding, April 1, 1999. [3p] Canvas
    Who has "standing" under the antidumping law? Who determines whether there is dumping? Answer: Companies have standing "if they account for fifty (50%) percent or more of domestic production. If there are companies that are neutral, they are counted as in favor. Companies that oppose the petition, but are related to the foreign producer, or are importers, can be disregarded in certain circumstances." "Once initiated, the Commerce Department is responsible for calculating whether there is dumping."
  1. How do the injury requirements differ for antidumping as compared to safeguards? Answer: Antidumping requires "material injury" "defined as harm that is more than inconsequential." Safeguards requires "serious injury" which "is a more difficult standard of injury than is applicable in antidumping."
  2. What can a U.S. producer do if it believes that its competitors in another country are engaging in anticompetitive conduct that is being tolerated by their government? Answer: It can file a case under Section 301, which accommodates that among other "unreasonable practices.">

WTO, "What is the World Trade Organization?," part of the WTO website Understanding the WTO. [2p] Online
    What are the three main components of the WTO? Answer: Negotiating forum, rules, and system for settling disputes.
  1. How does the WTO differ from the GATT that preceded it? Answer: "Whereas GATT had mainly dealt with trade in goods, the WTO and its agreements now cover trade in services, and in traded inventions, creations and designs (intellectual property)."
  2. What countries are members of the WTO? Answer: "almost all the main trading nations">

Yglesias, Matthew, "Justin Trudeau, unlike Trump, is taking NAFTA renegotiation really seriously," Vox, August 23, 2017. [4p] Online
    Why does Trump not seem to be taking the renegotiation seriously? Answer: Because he didn't send top people, and doesn't seem all that engaged himself. [I'm not sure I agree, since he did send the USTR, and continued tweeting.]
  1. Why do some US demands "appear to be symbolic, meaningless, or unworkable"? Answer: Trade balance has no mechanism to achieve it, and currency manipulation does happen within NAFTA.
  2. Can you tell from this any demand from both sides that the other might meet? Answer: The piece may be implying that higher rules of origin can be traded for gender rights, and the weakening Chapter 19 can be traded for weakening Chapter 11.>