#protectionism — Public Fediverse posts

Remember, cars are still the worst product the Mozilla Foundation as ever reviewed for privacy. This doubling down on pushing Chinese tech out of America over concerns of malware in their product is two-faced when one considers that America's own cars violate their drivers' privacy every day on the road.

https://reason.com/2026/05/13/congress-ramps-up-its-crusade-against-chinese-cars-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting/

#privacy #cars #China #hypocrisy #protectionism #tariffs #surveillance #USCongress

Remember, cars are still the worst product the Mozilla Foundation as ever reviewed for privacy. This doubling down on pushing Chinese tech out of America over concerns of malware in their product is two-faced when one considers that America's own cars violate their drivers' privacy every day on the road.

https://reason.com/2026/05/13/congress-ramps-up-its-crusade-against-chinese-cars-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting/

#privacy #cars #China #hypocrisy #protectionism #tariffs #surveillance #USCongress

Remember, cars are still the worst product the Mozilla Foundation as ever reviewed for privacy. This doubling down on pushing Chinese tech out of America over concerns of malware in their product is two-faced when one considers that America's own cars violate their drivers' privacy every day on the road.

https://reason.com/2026/05/13/congress-ramps-up-its-crusade-against-chinese-cars-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting/

#privacy #cars #China #hypocrisy #protectionism #tariffs #surveillance #USCongress

Remember, cars are still the worst product the Mozilla Foundation as ever reviewed for privacy. This doubling down on pushing Chinese tech out of America over concerns of malware in their product is two-faced when one considers that America's own cars violate their drivers' privacy every day on the road.

https://reason.com/2026/05/13/congress-ramps-up-its-crusade-against-chinese-cars-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting/

#privacy #cars #China #hypocrisy #protectionism #tariffs #surveillance #USCongress

Remember, cars are still the worst product the Mozilla Foundation as ever reviewed for privacy. This doubling down on pushing Chinese tech out of America over concerns of malware in their product is two-faced when one considers that America's own cars violate their drivers' privacy every day on the road.

https://reason.com/2026/05/13/congress-ramps-up-its-crusade-against-chinese-cars-ahead-of-trump-xi-meeting/

#privacy #cars #China #hypocrisy #protectionism #tariffs #surveillance #USCongress

https://www.europesays.com/news/27196/ As Trump Heads to Beijing, China Is ‘Locked and Loaded’ for a Fight #DonaldJ #EmbargoesAndSanctions #FactoriesAndManufacturing #Headlines #InternationalRelations #InternationalTradeAndWorldMarket #News #PoliticsAndGovernment #Protectionism(Trade) #TopStories #trump #XiJinping

You can spot bullshit journalism by scanning intent - and omissions.

First, intent: creating FUD to coerce #protectionism against #China, without calling it protectionism, because protectionism bad - unless it's there to protect US private interests, in which case protectionism good!

Second, omission: which goddamn toy manufacturer does NOT rely upon #sweatshops? All western toy producers do this in the east and global south.

https://www.thebureau.news/p/uyghur-forced-labor-imports-from

You can spot bullshit journalism by scanning intent - and omissions.

First, intent: creating FUD to coerce #protectionism against #China, without calling it protectionism, because protectionism bad - unless it's there to protect US private interests, in which case protectionism good!

Second, omission: which goddamn toy manufacturer does NOT rely upon #sweatshops? All western toy producers do this in the east and global south.

https://www.thebureau.news/p/uyghur-forced-labor-imports-from

You can spot bullshit journalism by scanning intent - and omissions.

First, intent: creating FUD to coerce #protectionism against #China, without calling it protectionism, because protectionism bad - unless it's there to protect US private interests, in which case protectionism good!

Second, omission: which goddamn toy manufacturer does NOT rely upon #sweatshops? All western toy producers do this in the east and global south.

https://www.thebureau.news/p/uyghur-forced-labor-imports-from

You can spot bullshit journalism by scanning intent - and omissions.

First, intent: creating FUD to coerce #protectionism against #China, without calling it protectionism, because protectionism bad - unless it's there to protect US private interests, in which case protectionism good!

Second, omission: which goddamn toy manufacturer does NOT rely upon #sweatshops? All western toy producers do this in the east and global south.

https://www.thebureau.news/p/uyghur-forced-labor-imports-from

You can spot bullshit journalism by scanning intent - and omissions.

First, intent: creating FUD to coerce #protectionism against #China, without calling it protectionism, because protectionism bad - unless it's there to protect US private interests, in which case protectionism good!

Second, omission: which goddamn toy manufacturer does NOT rely upon #sweatshops? All western toy producers do this in the east and global south.

https://www.thebureau.news/p/uyghur-forced-labor-imports-from

@MikeElgan china is giving away the same information (and more) american big tech stole and want inflated fees for, why pay 10x token costs, for small biz it is make or break, it is a stagecoach robbery and a sham basically #fomo squared #protectionism #silly con glass houses

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/04/tuesday-april-14-2026/

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/04/tuesday-april-14-2026/

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/04/tuesday-april-14-2026/

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/04/tuesday-april-14-2026/

Tuesday, April 14, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/04/tuesday-april-14-2026/

I've always been leery of the AI debate over creative content – audio or visual media, including written material. A recent interview between Rick Beato and Justin Hawkins provided me with a frame.

https://philosophics.blog/2026/04/10/art-or-content/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social

It reminds me of the old argument between high and low art, another bollocksed argument in my opinion. Homey don't play dat.

#philosophy #music #art #ai #language #perception #popculture #popmusic #protectionism #psychology #society #taste #technology #video #virtue #writing

EU CBAM faces WTO challenge: developing nations fear protectionism, trade hit

WTO Scrutiny Over EU’s CBAM The World Trade Organization’s recent Ministerial Conference in Yaoundé became a battleground for…
#Economy #Aluminiumexports #CarbonBorderAdjustmentMechanism #Chinatrade #ClimatePolicy #EconomyofEU #EconomyoftheEU #EUCBAM #EUeconomy #Europe #GATT #indiatrade #Non-discriminationprinciple #Protectionism #steelexports #tradedispute #WTO #WTOMC14
https://www.europesays.com/2903454/

Protectionism in the US heading in an interesting direction as The US bans foreign made internet routers

Which is particularly interesting because there aren't any US made internet routers really, certainly nothing like the number required for keeping all Americans online.

Routers are mostly insecure due to company negligence with updates and bugs which has nothing to do with nationality of course. American companies are just as likely to fail to spot a buffer overflow or abandon customers when they discontinue a product.

American companies aren't even less likely to want to spy on you and steal all your data and then be forced to give it up to government if they ask.

Hard to see how this goes well for anyone. Except many the people certifying products that evade the ban.

#routers #law #protectionism

https://www.europesays.com/uk/787402/ ‘Made in Europe’ row brings back Brexit’s bitter memories – POLITICO #Brexit #Britain #ChrisBryant #Companies #EmmanuelMacron #EU #Europe #European #EuropeanUnion #France #GreatBritain #Industry #Liechtenstein #Macron #manufacturing #Markets #Negotiations #Norway #PeterKyle #PoliticalEconomy #Protectionism #RachelReeves #Resilience #SandroGozi #SingleMarket #StateAid #StéphaneSéjourné #SupplyChains #Trade #UK #UnitedKingdom

"A large literature anticipated substantial long‑run costs of leaving the EU Single Market and Customs Union (HM Treasury 2016, IMF 2016, Van Reenen et al 2016). Early ex‑post work using macro data also pointed to a sizeable hit to UK GDP and trade (Born et al. 2019, Dhingra and Sampson 2022, Springford 2022, Haskel and Martin 2023, Freeman et al. 2025). VoxEU has been an important forum for this research and debate. Our contribution is to revisit the question now that almost a decade has passed since the referendum, bringing together macro and micro evidence in a single framework and comparing actual outcomes to the profession’s pre‑referendum forecasts.

In a new paper (Bloom et al. 2025), we combine micro data collected through the Decision Maker Panel (DMP), a survey of UK firms, with publicly available macro data to estimate the impact of Brexit. Our three main findings are:

- Brexit has had a large and persistent effect on the UK economy. By 2025, we estimate that UK GDP per capita was 6–8% lower than it would have been without Brexit. Investment was 12–18% lower, employment 3–4% lower, and productivity 3–4% lower.

- These losses emerged gradually. The impact was hard to see in 2017–18, but accumulated steadily over the subsequent decade as uncertainty persisted, trade barriers rose, and firms diverted resources away from productive activity.

- Economists were roughly right on the magnitude of the impact, but wrong on the timing. The consensus pre‑referendum forecast of a 4% long‑run GDP loss turned out to be close to the actual loss after five years, but too optimistic about the longer run."

https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/brexits-slow-burn-hit-uk-economy

#UK #Brexit #EU #Protectionism #Tariffs #TradeBarriers

"Governments worldwide face mounting pressure to simultaneously expand domestic clean energy industries and accelerate decarbonisation. Recent policies combine subsidies for clean technology with various protectionist measures, including domestic content requirements and tariffs on imports. Yet, evidence from the solar sector suggests tariffs undermine rather than support climate objectives.

Since 2012, the US has imposed substantial tariffs on solar panels imported from China. The EU erected related trade barriers on solar panels before lifting them in 2018. More recently, the US and EU have imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. These actions illustrate a policy tension: even as governments commit to rapid decarbonisation, protectionist measures raise the cost of deploying the clean technologies needed to achieve climate goals. Recent research helps illuminate this conflict and points toward better policy approaches."

https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/beyond-tariffs-better-approach-green-industrial-policy

#USA #China #GreenTransition #GreenIndustrialPolicy #Tariffs #TradeWar #Protectionism #BigOil #Decarbonization #FossilFuels

"The new research, published Monday by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a well-regarded German think tank, suggests that the impact of tariffs is likely to show up over time in the form of higher U.S. consumer prices.

The findings don’t mean that the tariffs are a win for Europe—on the contrary. German exports to the U.S., which have rocketed in recent years, have contracted sharply in the past year.

The German research echoes recent reports by the Budget Lab at Yale and economists at Harvard Business School, finding that only a small fraction of the tariff costs were being borne by foreign producers.

By analyzing $4 trillion of shipments between January 2024 and November 2025, the Kiel Institute researchers found that foreign exporters absorbed only about 4% of the burden of last year’s U.S. tariff increases by lowering their prices, while American consumers and importers absorbed 96%.

The tariffs had a significant effect on trade volumes: Facing higher U.S. tariffs, Indian exporters maintained their prices but reduced the volume of shipments to the U.S. by 18%-24% relative to the European Union, Canada and Australia, the report found.

Rather than acting as a tax on foreign producers, the tariffs functioned as a consumption tax on Americans, the report said."

https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/americans-are-the-ones-paying-for-tariffs-study-finds-e254ed2e?st=P6rcZN&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

#USA #Trump #EU #Tariffs #TradeWar #Protectionism #ConsumptionTax

"Protection doesn't mean #protectionism, but today's Europeans are too naive," #Macron added.

"The Europeans are the only ones not to protect their own companies & their own markets, when the other countries don't respect the level playing field."

He called for more Chinese foreign direct investment in #Europe "in some key sectors to contribute to our growth, to transfer some technologies".

#geopolitics #tariffs #economy #NewWorldOrder #law #InternationalLaw #WEF

In creating one of the world’s largest #FreeTrade zones, the accord — pushed by #SouthAmerica’s renowned cattle-raising countries & #Europe’s industrial sectors craving new markets for cars & machines — brings together a #market of more than 700 million #consumers that accounts for a quarter of #global #GDP.

#geopolitics #trade #economy #inflation #tariffs #EU #Mercosur #protectionism #NewWorldOrder

The signing ceremony in Paraguay’s humid capital of Asunción marks a major geopolitical victory for the #EU in an age of #Trump #tariffs & surging #China exports, expanding the bloc’s foothold in a #resource-rich region increasingly contested by Washington & Beijing.

#geopolitics #trade #economy #inflation #Europe #Mercosur #SouthAmerica #FreeTrade #protectionism #NewWorldOrder

The #EU & the #Mercosur bloc of #SouthAmerica countries formally signed a long-sought landmark #FreeTrade agreement on Saturday, capping more than a quarter-century of torturous negotiations to strengthen #commercial ties in the face of rising #protectionism & #trade tensions around the world.

#geopolitics #economy #Trump #tariffs #inflation #Europe #NewWorldOrder

"The entire ideology which underpins international economic relations has to be rethought. Perhaps we have to create a new system which would allow for trade blocs and tariff rates, no labor migration, and no transfer of technology but it has to be codified and explained to the rest of the world. Yet nobody has so far as much as mentioned that we (the world) need to create such a new system. This is why we are currently in the situation where the rules do not exist anymore. They are being treated in an entirely ad hoc manner: a certain set of rules are being used in one country or in one set of countries and other rules are being used in another set of countries. All of this is justified on the grounds of national interest. This is not an illegitimate position to take but one has to be clear about what it implies. It implies the return to mercantilistic policies where the interests of individual countries are paramount. It also means the abandonment of any cosmopolitan and internationalist perspective where the rules are at least in principle universal. We no longer have universal rules and the main culprit for not having universal rules is not Trump, but the view of the world where domestic political interest and the so-called security concerns are above everything else. This is not a world of globalization, but of parceled regionalisms and even nationalism."

https://branko2f7.substack.com/p/how-the-mainstream-has-abandoned/

#Neoliberalism #Globalization #Economy #Economics #Nationalism #Tariffs #TradeWar #Protectionism

https://www.europesays.com/ie/250229/ Why economic forecasts will fail more often in 2026 #Business #EconomicConfidence #Economy #EconomyManagement #Éire #GlobalEconomy #IE #Ireland #Protectionism

cheap chinese gpu to the rescue? some of it is hype but they are making huge progress they may sell at a discount to take mkt share initially. chinese ev should sell also and there is a demand for them - tesla would have competition which is sorely needs, the US should be much less protectionist or have them open up factories here just like bmw, honda etc #the pc great depression #compute #protectionism

"WHEN THE European Union increased tariffs on Chinese battery electric vehicles (EVs) in 2024, the logic was straightforward: raise prices and imports will fall. A study published by the Kiel Institute, a think-tank, estimated that higher levies would cause Chinese car exports to plunge by 25%. After more than a year, that forecast is wrong. According to China’s customs agency, car exports to Europe rose to nearly 1.2m in the 12 months to November, up by 26% from a year earlier (see chart 1). The data suggest that Europe’s failure to stem the rise of Chinese-made vehicles has less to do with weak tariffs than Chinese carmakers’ talent for steering around them.

Europe’s EV tariffs were designed to address what the European Commission calls the “unfair subsidisation” of Chinese producers by the state and restore a “level playing field”. But instead of imposing a uniform duty on all Chinese cars, the EU opted for a tailored approach. Extra tariffs were applied only to purely battery-powered vehicles, based on each carmaker’s estimated level of government support. On top of the bloc’s existing 10% import duty, BYD (China’s biggest producer of EVs) faced an additional 17%, Geely-owned brands 18.8% and SAIC 35.3%. Other Chinese carmakers were subject to tariffs of 20.7%. Hybrids were spared.

Rather than retreat, Chinese carmakers changed lanes, pivoting from EVs to hybrids, which combine electric motors with petrol engines. This shift is evident in the data. Whereas monthly Chinese EV sales to Europe have grown by 12% in the past year, exports of hybrids have surged by 155%, albeit from a low base (see chart 2). “It was only a matter of time before the Chinese manufacturers changed their strategy,” Beatrix Keim of Germany’s Centre for Automotive Research recently told Handelsblatt, a German newspaper. Hybrids are now the fastest-growing segment of China’s car exports..."

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2025/12/18/how-chinese-cars-are-beating-european-tariffs
#EU #China #Tariffs #Protectionism #TradeWars #EVs #Hybrids

"The global economy is undergoing a fundamental shift. After decades of free-market orthodoxy and neoliberal globalization, we’re witnessing the return of industrial policy — but this time with a twist. Major economic powers — especially the United States, China, and the European Union — are now explicitly intertwining their economic strategies with national security concerns. This isn’t just a policy adjustment. It represents a wholesale transformation of how major powers approach economic development and competition.

These three economic giants are implementing distinct approaches to industrial policy while pursuing similar objectives: technological leadership, supply chain security, and national economic sovereignty. What we’re seeing is the emergence of a new economic nationalism, one that is reshaping the global economic order.
(...)
The crucial point is this: neomercantilism — the idea that countries should actively use industrial and trade policies to generate trade surpluses and enhance competitiveness — has always viewed economic power and national security as inseparable. So, what we’re witnessing today isn’t the invention of something entirely new, but rather the resurrection of ideas that were temporarily suppressed during the neoliberal era of the 1980s onwards.

During that period, international organizations effectively outlawed industrial policy through structural adjustment programmes and free trade agreements. The Washington Consensus reigned supreme. But the 2008 financial crisis, rising inequality, climate change pressures, supply chain vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19, and intensifying geopolitical tensions have collectively demolished faith in free-market orthodoxy. Industrial policy is back. And it’s back with a vengeance."

https://www.theglobalcurrents.com/p/industrial-policy-returns-as-a-weapon

#IndustrialPolicy #EconomicNationalism #Nationalism #Protectionism #PoliticalEconomy

How many more Americans would live below the poverty line if the US government were to ban all imports of consumer goods?
#protectionism #importsubstitution #mercantilism #autarky #tradebarriers #tradewars #poverty #povertyline #americans #affordabilitycrisis #inflation #tradepolicy #usa #donaldtrump #tariffs #consumergoods #economics #imports

Bundeskanzler Merz: "Werden keine Komponenten aus #China 🇨🇳 im #6G-Netz zulassen" | heise online https://www.heise.de/news/Bundeskanzler-Merz-Werden-keine-Komponenten-aus-China-im-6G-Netz-zulassen-11079939.html #DigitalSovereignty #5G #Huawei #Protektionismus #protectionism #unplugChina

A somber, sober, sane response from Canada, as #TrumpVirus swallows up rationality and #democracy "South of the Border".

https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.social/post/3m3tgc3aeok2h

> "Carney: But this decades-long process of an ever-closer economic relationship with the United States is now over. And as a consequence, many of our former strengths as a country—more particularly, our economic strengths based on close ties to America—have now become our vulnerabilities…"

#history #Canada #trade #truth #protectionism #tariffs

😕 We just came across some death registers for ancestors in #England in the 1670s-80s, who were listed as having been buried 'in wool only'. Turns out that was a legal requirement for a time, to protect the English #wool trade from 'foreign textiles'. Like linen. Or pay a £5 fine (~£600 today) if you can.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burying_in_Woollen_Acts

I'm sure Messers Farage et al would be delighted to return to that sort of arrangement for anything they could squeeze a few coins from.

#history #protectionism

"Add LEGO to the list of hobbies that Trump has made more expensive and worse with his tariff policy. Thanks to America’s ever shifting trade policies, LEGO has stopped shipping more than 2,500 pieces from its Pick a Brick program to both the United States and Canada.

Pick a Brick allows LEGO fans to buy individual bricks, which is important in the fandom because certain pieces are hard to come by or are crucial to build specific types of creations. LEGO, a Danish company, says that program will no longer be available to Americans and Canadians.

LEGO fansite New Elementary first noticed the change on August 25, four days ahead of the August 29 elimination of the de minimis trade exemption in the US. Many of the individual LEGO bricks in the Pick a Brick collection cost less than a dollar and it’s likely that the the elimination of the de minimis rule, which waived import fees on goods valued less than $800, made the Pick a Brick program untenable."

https://www.404media.co/lego-stops-shipping-individual-bricks-to-united-states-after-trumps-tariffs/

#USA #Trump #Tariffs #TradeWar #Protectionism #LEGO

"At this crucial moment, the European Union should reach out its arms to traditional allies like Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea rather than turning inward, not to mention working with a broader grouping of countries like Brazil, Chile, and South Africa (just to name a few) to develop a common front against US aggression and, in particular, the colonial nature of its tech monopolists. It’s long past time to implement sweeping restrictions on data collection and transfer, stronger labor protections to end the push to precarity enabled by digital platforms, and stringent regulations targeting the harms of the tech infrastructure developed over the past several decades, including everything from social media to the pervasive surveillance culture that has come along with the business model of Silicon Valley.

Earlier this year, the European Union was floating a much more aggressive retaliatory policy toward the United States. Whereas the trade war is hitting goods, EU officials were explicitly looking at options to target trade in services, with a specific focus on the immense quantity of services it contracts from US tech companies. For companies trying to use the Trump administration to get rid of foreign taxes and regulations, it would have been a major blow. But the European Union backed down and other governments have not tried something similar. They didn’t want to provoke the ire of the White House and Silicon Valley — but they should do just that."

https://www.disconnect.blog/p/world-leaders-must-stop-appeasing

#USA #Trump #EU #TradeWar #Tariffs #Protectionism #Imperialism

"Europe has sacrificed the ability to call out his violation of international treaties — such as the World Trade Organization’s requirement of the most-favoured nation principle. It has also fallen in with the idea that results are achieved through personalised bargaining between great men (and occasionally women), rather than the painstaking work of democratic deliberation and consensus building.

But note what these choices have cost Europe. It has shed all the political capital it could have mobilised to lead a coalition of countries in defence of rules-based trade and a concerted opposition to Trump. Not only that, it has betrayed its American friends, who had counted on Europe standing up to Trump while they struggled to do so themselves.

Most importantly, Europe is risking its political soul. It has put itself in a situation in which leaders cannot say publicly what they are actually trying to do. That is a recipe for distrust and a poison for democracy — and European liberal democracy in particular. How can voters endorse policies whose true nature cannot be admitted publicly (such as the promises to Trump not being real)? If the EU hypocritically accepts what economist Richard Baldwin terms the “grievance doctrine” of globalisation, how can it repel anti-European forces thriving on those views at home?"

https://www.ft.com/content/75609ba4-cc61-4556-8ca2-09381da721e9

#USA #Trump #EU #PoliticalEconomy #TradeWars #Tariffs #Protectionism

https://www.europesays.com/uk/298330/ EU US tariff 15% deal announced #3dRenderElements #AmericanTradeWar #cargo #DomesticProducer #duties #duty #embargo #EU #Europe #European #excise #Exports #financial #GovernmentPolicy #idea #ImportedSteel #Imports #impose #ImposeTariffs #levy #national #Protectionism #protectionist #rate #SteelCompanies #SteelIndustry #TariffWar #Trade #TradeWar #TradingWar #UnfairTrade #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesFlag #USImports

https://www.europesays.com/uk/297807/ On the plight of the unbombed farmers of Eastern Europe – POLITICO #Agriculture #AidAndDevelopment #Borders #Cooperation #Defense #Enlargement #EU #EU27 #Europe #farmers #Farms #Protectionism #Russia #Security #SingleMarket #Trade #TradeAgreements #Ukraine #VladimirPutin #War #WarInUkraine

@economics @economics-that-works

“An increasing number of Chinese industries are in acute rivalry with high-value American industries, and China’s gains are our losses. The US cannot remain a military superpower without being an industrial superpower.”

Michael Roberts reviews the book: https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2025/05/13/geonomics-nationalism-and-trade/

#MAGA #industrialPolicy #macroEconomics #Trumpism #geonomics #geoEconomics #protectionism #tariffs #devaluation #economy #economics #nationalism #USA #China #Fasteau #Fletcher

Japan's US investments hit record highs in 2024, raising concerns about overexposure amid rising US protectionism and global trade tensions, particularly with China.
#YonhapInfomax #JapaneseInvestment #USMarket #Protectionism #TradeWar #ChinaInvestment #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=62204

"Japan’s finance minister has publicly identified the country’s more than $1tn holdings of US Treasuries as a “card” in its trade negotiations with the Trump administration, in a rare baring of teeth by America’s closest ally in Asia.

Speaking during a television interview on Friday, Katsunobu Kato was asked whether Japan would use its traditional stance as a non-seller of Treasuries as a tool in trade talks with Washington.

“It does exist as a card,” said Kato, adding that “whether or not we use that card is a different decision”.

Japanese holders, including the government, own $1.13tn of Treasuries, the largest hoard held by a foreign nation.

There is no suggestion that Tokyo is considering any sales of official Treasury holdings. But traders said that even the reference to such an action as a “card” could add to volatility in a US bond market that has lurched violently since April 2 when Donald Trump announced sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on US trade partners."

https://www.ft.com/content/912f861f-26c8-4bcd-aca0-75a09e5767cc

#USA #Trump #Tariffs #TradeWar #Protectionism #Japan #PublicDebt #USTreasuries

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won proposes Korea-Japan economic union to counter US protectionism, envisioning an EU-like bloc including ASEAN nations
#YonhapInfomax #CheyTaewon #KoreaJapanUnion #EconomicBloc #Protectionism #ASEANExpansion #Economics #FinancialMarkets #Banking #Securities #Bonds #StockMarket
https://en.infomaxai.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=59756

U.S. Chipmakers Fear They Are Ceding China’s A.I. Market to Huawei - New restrictions on semiconductor exports to China are scrambling sales and fueling conce... - https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/technology/ai-chips-china-huawei.html #regulationandderegulationofindustry #internationaltradeandworldmarket #huaweitechnologiescoltd #artificialintelligence #protectionism(trade) #nvidiacorporation #bidenjosephrjr #computerchips #huangjen-hsun #trumpdonaldj

"Donald Trump’s tariff policy has thrown markets into turmoil among his allies and enemies alike. This anarchy reflects the fact that his major aim was not really tariff policy, but simply to cut income taxes on the wealthy, by replacing them with tariffs as the main source of government revenue. Extracting economic concessions from other countries is part of his justification for this tax shift as offering a nationalistic benefit for the United States.

His cover story, and perhaps even his belief, is that tariffs by themselves can revive American industry. But he has no plans to deal with the problems that caused America’s deindustrialization in the first place. There is no recognition of what made the original U.S. industrial program and that of most other nations so successful.

That program was based on public infrastructure, rising private industrial investment and wages protected by tariffs, and strong government regulation. Trump’s slash and burn policy is the reverse – to downsize government, weaken public regulation and sell off public infrastructure to help pay for his income tax cuts on his Donor Class.

This is just the neoliberal program under another guise. Trump misrepresents it as supportive of industry, not its antithesis. His move is not an industrial plan at all, but a power play to extract economic concessions from other countries while slashing income taxes on the wealthy. The immediate result will be wide-spread layoffs, business closures and consumer price inflation."

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/04/14/michael-hudson-robber-barons-trump-tariffs/

#USA #Trump #Tariffs #TradeWar #Deindustrialization #PoliticalEconomy #Protectionism

"Donald Trump’s tariff policy has thrown markets into turmoil among his allies and enemies alike. This anarchy reflects the fact that his major aim was not really tariff policy, but simply to cut income taxes on the wealthy, by replacing them with tariffs as the main source of government revenue. Extracting economic concessions from other countries is part of his justification for this tax shift as offering a nationalistic benefit for the United States.

His cover story, and perhaps even his belief, is that tariffs by themselves can revive American industry. But he has no plans to deal with the problems that caused America’s deindustrialization in the first place. There is no recognition of what made the original U.S. industrial program and that of most other nations so successful.

That program was based on public infrastructure, rising private industrial investment and wages protected by tariffs, and strong government regulation. Trump’s slash and burn policy is the reverse – to downsize government, weaken public regulation and sell off public infrastructure to help pay for his income tax cuts on his Donor Class.

This is just the neoliberal program under another guise. Trump misrepresents it as supportive of industry, not its antithesis. His move is not an industrial plan at all, but a power play to extract economic concessions from other countries while slashing income taxes on the wealthy. The immediate result will be wide-spread layoffs, business closures and consumer price inflation."

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/04/14/michael-hudson-robber-barons-trump-tariffs/

#USA #Trump #Tariffs #TradeWar #Deindustrialization #PoliticalEconomy #Protectionism

"Donald Trump’s tariff policy has thrown markets into turmoil among his allies and enemies alike. This anarchy reflects the fact that his major aim was not really tariff policy, but simply to cut income taxes on the wealthy, by replacing them with tariffs as the main source of government revenue. Extracting economic concessions from other countries is part of his justification for this tax shift as offering a nationalistic benefit for the United States.

His cover story, and perhaps even his belief, is that tariffs by themselves can revive American industry. But he has no plans to deal with the problems that caused America’s deindustrialization in the first place. There is no recognition of what made the original U.S. industrial program and that of most other nations so successful.

That program was based on public infrastructure, rising private industrial investment and wages protected by tariffs, and strong government regulation. Trump’s slash and burn policy is the reverse – to downsize government, weaken public regulation and sell off public infrastructure to help pay for his income tax cuts on his Donor Class.

This is just the neoliberal program under another guise. Trump misrepresents it as supportive of industry, not its antithesis. His move is not an industrial plan at all, but a power play to extract economic concessions from other countries while slashing income taxes on the wealthy. The immediate result will be wide-spread layoffs, business closures and consumer price inflation."

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2025/04/14/michael-hudson-robber-barons-trump-tariffs/

#USA #Trump #Tariffs #TradeWar #Deindustrialization #PoliticalEconomy #Protectionism