Trade

When President Trump promised he’d be tough on trade, Canada wasn’t a name he threw around much. But his administration’s first big trade tax turns out to be a proposed 20 percent or so tariff on Canadian “soft lumber.” That’s pine, spruce, fir — the kind of wood used to build homes. Secretary of Commerce […]

The Commerce Department announced new tariffs of 3 percent to 24 percent on Canadian lumber companies, saying the Canadian government unfairly subsidizes the industry. Some American companies will have to pay the fee retroactively for orders delivered in the last 90 days. This debate has been ongoing for decades, and Canada denies it unfairly supports […]

The Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross met with the European Union’s trade negotiator in Washington today. Although it’s been buried by immigration and foreign policy in the first three months of President Trump’s administration, fixing trade was a key promise Trump made on the campaign trail — which is why Ross is looking for a […]

President Trump issued two executive orders dealing with trade today. One will start a 90-day clock for the Commerce Department to report back on countries unfairly subsidizing their exports to the U.S. That’s called dumping. Second, the administration will look into whether countervailing duties imposed by the U.S. when it finds another country is dumping are […]

Brexit starts tomorrow — United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May will officially begin the two year process of pulling her country out of the European Union. Her two key goals: to keep the closest possible trading links with the EU and to end the automatic right of EU citizens to settle in Britain. But even […]