Deconstructing Trade
Global Tax Insights
14 April, 2014

In a masterpiece of diplomacy, China's premier said last week that it was "open-minded" about the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), which when you deconstruct it probably means that he is happy for Japan to wreck the chances of a successful TPP by refusing to negotiate on its rice tariffs (778 percent, as I recall). There is a double irony in this, given that Shinzo Abe is in reality quite willing to reduce the tariffs, but doesn't need to play such a valuable card given that the US Congress has already ensured that there can be no further US trade treaties by refusing to allow the Trade Promotion Authority to be reconstituted, and that China on the other hand has been a willing player in the World Trade Organization. Read More »
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