Donald Trump’s Trade-Knowledge Deficit

Pascal Salin

Pascal Salin, a former president of the Mont Pèlerin Society, is honorary Professor of Economics at University Paris-Dauphine.

JUN 22, 2017, Project Syndicate

PARIS – As a longtime champion of liberty and free trade, it is not surprising that the United States enjoys one of the highest standards of living in the world. But unless its policymakers act soon, the US could find itself in the same unhappy condition as my own country, France.

Ever since François Mitterrand was elected to the French presidency in 1981, France has steadily raised taxes, increased public expenditures, and imposed additional layers of regulation. Even governments supposedly on the right, under Presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy, pursued socialist economic policies. Consequently, France has long suffered from anemic growth and high unemployment – a perfect example of what can happen when the state intervenes in economic activities.

The downside of government intervention should be obvious to everyone. But that has not stopped politicians such as US President Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen of the French National Front from proposing interventionist and protectionist policies.

Kann die Sonne Trumps Mauer zu Mexiko wirklich bezahlen?

Der US-Präsident will den strittigen Grenzwall mit Solarpaneelen ausstatten und den Strom verkaufen, damit sich „die Mauer selbst zahlt“. Doch die Rechnung geht nicht auf.

 

Von Matthias Auer diepresse.com
22.06.2017 um 18:03

Washington/Wien. Die Mauer zu Mexiko. Sie war eines jener umstrittenen Wahlversprechen, die Donald Trump das Präsidentenamt beschert haben. Doch das Multimilliarden-Dollar-Projekt kommt nicht so recht in die Gänge – weil niemand da ist, der es bezahlen will. Mexiko denkt nicht daran, auf Trumps Forderungen einzugehen und die Kosten für den Grenzwall selbst zu tragen. Auch der US-Kongress gibt keine oder nur minimale Mittel für den Bau frei. Nun soll die Sonne die Rechnung für die tausend Meilen (1609 km) lange Mauer begleichen.

Who Will Fill America’s Shoes?

Richard N. Haass

Richard N. Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, previously served as Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department (2001-2003), and was President George W. Bush’s special envoy to Northern Ireland and Coordinator for the Future of Afghanistan. He is the author of A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order.

JUN 21, 2017 Project Syndicate

NEW YORK – It is increasingly clear that US President Donald Trump represents a departure when it comes to America’s global outlook and behavior. As a result, the United States will no longer play the leading international role that has defined its foreign policy for three quarters of a century, under Democratic and Republican presidents alike.

We have already seen many examples of this change. The traditional US commitment to global organizations has been superseded by the idea of “America first.” Alliances and security guarantees once regarded as a given are increasingly conditioned on how much allies spend on defense and whether they are seen to derive unfair advantage from trade with the US.

More broadly, foreign trade is viewed with suspicion – supposedly a source of job loss rather than an engine of investment, job creation, growth, and stability. Immigration and refugee policies have become more restrictive. Less emphasis is being placed on promoting democracy and human rights. More dollars are going to defense, but fewer resources are being devoted to supporting global health or development.

The Russian-Roulette Presidency

Elizabeth Drew

Elizabeth Drew is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and the author, most recently, of Washington Journal: Reporting Watergate and Richard Nixon’s Downfall.

JUN 21, 2017 Project Syndicate

WASHINGTON, DC – Unless US President Donald Trump decides that he has had enough, and returns to his gilded Manhattan tower, his presidency’s metastasizing crisis will continue to haunt him. Investigations in the United States Senate and House of Representatives are underway, and the most serious inquiry is being conducted by a special counsel, Robert Mueller, who is hiring a fearsome team of specialists in criminal law.

Investigators are looking into what Russia did to try to tip the 2016 US presidential election in Trump’s favor, and whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian officials in that effort. The congressional inquiries are also supposed to recommend ways to prevent foreign powers from interfering in future elections, especially after recent reports suggesting that Russia’s meddling was even more ambitious than was previously known.

Utterly Disgusting

Date: 17-06-2017
Source: The Economist: Lexington
Subject: Donald Trump’s need for flattery is trashing reputations

This is not Shakespearean drama: the penalty for characters who stand up to the king is too small for that

AS A rule, it is not ideal for a presidential administration to remind onlookers of a feuding, villain-haunted Shakespearean tragedy. Yet that was a widely shared reaction when the first full meeting of President Donald Trump’s cabinet, on June 12th, began with an extended flattery contest.

Vice-President Mike Pence set the tone, confiding that serving a president “who’s keeping his word to the American people” is “the greatest privilege of my life”. As Mr Trump clenched his jaw, nodded and threw in an occasional “good job” of encouragement, his cabinet secretaries—who include former governors, retired four-star generals and more than one billionaire—mostly followed suit. They variously reported that his presidency has “thrilled” crime-fighters, excited the world with its “international flair” and inspired “love” in Mississippi. “My hat is off to you!” swooned the energy secretary, Rick Perry, who in 2015 called Mr Trump a “cancer on conservatism”. For as long as cameras whirred this surge of praise rolled round the room like a bureaucrats’ Mexican wave, peaking with a testimonial from Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff. Unabashed by speculation that he is to be sacked, Mr Priebus declared: “We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing to serve your agenda.” The verdict of a Twitter-user from Toronto, “This is actually the start of ‘King Lear’,” went viral, pinging around the political internet.

FRIEDE DURCH WIRTSCHAFTSHILFE

FURCHE-Kolumne 217  Wilfried Stadler

Auf seiner Torkel-Tour durch den weltpolitischen Porzellanladen gefiel es dem amtierenden US-Präsidenten, anlässlich seines ersten Europa-Besuches den fatalen Satz „Germany is bad, very bad“ fallen zu lassen. Dankenswerterweise hat Deutschlands Kanzlerin Angela Merkel darauf so souverän nicht reagiert, dass die aggressive Wortwahl mittlerweile beinahe schon wieder vergessen ist.

Und doch: welch ein Kontrast zu jenem Amerika, das vor ziemlich genau 70 Jahren mit dem „European Recovery Program“ (ERP) ein bis heute einzigartiges politisches Konzept zum Europäischen Wiederaufbau in die Welt setzte. Der nach seinem Initiator, dem WeltkriegsGeneral, Außenminister und späteren Friedensnobelpreisträger George C. Marshall benannte, ab 1948 umgesetzte Plan, mobilisierte damals Hilfsleistungen in einer Größenordnung, die über einen Zeitraum von vier Jahren annähernd zwei Prozent der US-Wirtschaftsleistung entsprach. Ein vergleichbarer Anteil an der amerikanischen Wertschöpfung von heute würde die gigantische Summe von nahezu 900 Milliarden US-Dollar ausmachen.

Can US States Right Trump’s Wrongs?

Barry Eichengreen

Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former senior policy adviser at the International Monetary Fund. His latest book is Hall of Mirrors:The Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Uses – and Misuses – of History.

JUN 13, 2017  Project Syndicate

VENICE – US President Donald Trump, with the help of a Republican-controlled Congress, is undermining many of the fundamental values that Americans hold dear. He is jeopardizing their access to health care by seeking to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). His budget proposes massive cuts in everything from early childhood education to food stamps and medical research. His tax reform plan, and especially its much lower top rate for “pass-through” business income, implies significant further redistribution of income to the wealthy.

Most recently, his misguided decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement jeopardizes America’s global standing. Worse, it puts the health and welfare of the planet at risk.

This is a good time to remember that the United States is a federal system, not a unitary state with an all-powerful central government (think France). Its system is enshrined in the Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which stipulates that all powers not expressly assigned to the federal government are “reserved to the states.”

US-Banken sollen es leichter haben

Finanzminister Steven Mnuchin präsentiert ein Konzept, um die US-Finanzaufsicht zu reformieren. Es ist nicht revolutionär, wird aber Bewegung in die Branche bringen.

 US-Finanzminister Steven Mnuchin.

von Judith Hecht
13.06.2017 um 18:03, diepresse.com

Wien. Als US-Präsident Donald Trump im Februar gerade frisch im Amt war, beauftragte er in seinem ersten Dekret das US-Finanzministerium, das gesamte Finanzsystem einmal gründlich zu durchforsten. Alle Verträge und Gesetze, die mit „Kernprinzipien“ kollidieren, sollten ausfindig und möglichst eliminiert werden.

Nun, genau vier Monate später, hat US-Finanzminister Steven Mnuchin auf 147 Seiten seine Ausbeute präsentiert und gleichzeitig dargelegt, wie er die US-Finanzaufsicht zu reformieren gedenkt. Auf seine Vorschläge hat die Bankenbranche gierig gewartet. Schließlich, soll ihnen – so forderte es der US-Präsident mit Vehemenz – das Leben endlich wieder erleichtert werden. Insbesonders hat es Trump auf das Dodd-Frank-Gesetz abgesehen. Sein Vorgänger Barack Obama setzte es als Reaktion auf die Finanzkrise 2010 unter großen Widerständen in Kraft. Es verbot Banken etwa auf eigene Rechnung zu spekulieren. Trump bezeichnete das Dodd-Frank-Regelwerk als „Desaster“, das man größtenteils streichen könne. Es habe nämlich weder die Finanzstabilität noch den Konsumentenschutz gefördert. 

China Engages California on Climate After Trump’s Paris Snub

Date: 12-06-2017
Source: The Wall Street Journal

Beijing circumvents White House to work with U.S. states committed to emissions cuts

BEIJING—China’s government is working to keep climate-change cooperation with the U.S. alive after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, even if that means sidestepping the White House to seek closer ties with U.S. states.

Meetings in Beijing during the past week showed the competing agendas in U.S. energy politics and deep frustration inside China’s government over Mr. Trump’s decision to abandon what had been a rare platform for unity in the U.S.-China relationship.

China rolled out the red carpet for California Gov. Jerry Brown, a critic of Mr. Trump’s decision who arrived in China last weekend to take part in an international clean-energy forum and meet provincial officials. It was Mr. Brown that President Xi Jinping later welcomed to Beijing’s Great Hall of the People; U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, also in town for the forum, was received by a vice premier.

American firms can offset Donald Trump’s pullout from Paris

Date: 11-06-2017
Source: The Economist
Subject: We’ve got the power: Big business sees the promise of clean energy

PITY America’s big businesses. For years their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint were dismissed by environmentalists as “greenwashing”. Now, after months trying to persuade a supposedly pro-business new president, Donald Trump, of the merits of staying in the Paris climate accord, he practically laughed in their faces by withdrawing on June 1st.

Executives fear the exit will do no good to America’s—and by implication their—reputation. Not for nothing have more than 900 American firms and investors, including Amazon, Twitter, Target and Nike, put their names this week to a “We are still in” open letter to the UN. Its signatories pledge to help reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 26% by 2025, in keeping with America’s Paris pledge. That may be quixotic but is a rallying cry nonetheless.