Trade News: U.S. Trade Agreements with Korea, Columbia and Panama

From Tradeology (ITA): Quick Approval of Trade Agreements is Good News for the American Economy.  Congress approved trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama.  Opening new doors of opportunity for U.S. firms to sell their products in these three markets will strengthen our economy and sharpen our competitive edge in the global economy.  It will also support jobs.  For every billion in U.S. goods exported overseas, more than 5500 jobs are supported here at home.  In total, the three agreements will support tens of thousands of jobs and add billions to the U.S. GDP — reasons for all Americans to cheer.  To read more about this subject, you may also want to check out:

• Business Week Article (From Bloomberg)
• Biggest U.S. Free-Trade Accord Since ’94 Passed (also from ITA)
• Passage of the U.S. Trade Agreements (from International Law Blog)

Opinion From Panjiva: On Trade, Congress Talks Out of Both Sides of Its Mouth. This week, the U.S. Senate advanced three bills promoting free trade and passed another bill that could trigger a trade war.  To be fair, there is a common thread — jobs. The problem is that all of these efforts ignore the big picture on trade with respect to jobs. Trade wars are a well-known way to kill jobs.

Also from Panjiva: September Trade Data: Significant Seasonal Drop. Specifically, the number of waterborne shipments coming into the U.S. experienced a 8% month-over-month decrease from August to September.  This is sharper than August-to-September declines of years past (-7% in 2010, -5% in 2009, -5% in 2008, and flat in 2007).

From EuroMonitor: Annual Inflation in 25 Key Emerging Market Economies: 2011.  In April 2011, the IMF raised its 2011 forecast for global inflation to 4.5% (from 3.7% in 2010), mainly due to a surge in global commodity prices. While high unemployment will continue holding back inflationary pressures in most advanced economies, inflation is accelerating in many emerging and developing economies as a result of accommodative macroeconomic policies and increasing capacity constraints. Inflation forecasts for China and India have been raised to 5.0% and 7.5% for 2011.

From Global Edge: Best Countries for Business. Forbes has just released its list of “Best Countries for Business” and this year Canada has reached the top. Canada jumped up from last year’s number 4 spot to claim the top spot on the list. Countries were ranked based on 11 key factors including “property rights, innovation, taxes, technology, corruption, freedom (personal, trade and monetary), red tape, investor protection and stock market performance.”

PIERS Supports the World Trade Center Africa Initiative. The African Network of World Trade Centers forms sophisticated links between businesses across Africa that serve a diverse range of economic sectors. These sectors include: mining, energy, construction, agriculture, tourism, finance, communication, logistics, health, and technology.