United States: Trump Administration Clears Way for New Currency Tariffs “The Trump administration is going ahead with controversial new rules that would clear the way for the U.S. to start applying punitive tariffs on goods from countries accused of having undervalued currencies, the Commerce Department said Monday. The move would give new muscle to U.S.

February 03, 2020 United States: Senate to Hear Final Arguments on Charges: Impeachment Update “President Donald Trump is set to be acquitted of two impeachment charges in final votes set for Wednesday at 4 p.m. Before then, senators will hear lawyers’ closing arguments and have two days for debate.” https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-03/senate-to-hear-final-arguments-on-charges-impeachment-update?srnd=premium Europe: Pound Slumps Before Start

January 31, 2020 United States: Trump Acquittal Near With Senate Likely to Deny Witnesses “The most consequential day in Donald Trump’s impeachment trial begins in the Senate on Friday, with Republican leaders likely to muster enough votes to block witnesses and rapidly move to acquit the president. The decision late Thursday by Senator Lamar Alexander

United States: U.S. Farm Chief Presses EU to Throw Doors Open to American Foods “U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue signaled that a renewed transatlantic trade truce will require more ambitious European Union efforts to ease imports of American foods. Perdue criticized an idea being pursued by the bloc of a piecemeal accord that would scale back European

January 29, 2020 United States: Loan Applications to Buy U.S. Homes Climb to 11-Year High “Loan applications to purchase U.S. homes increased to an 11-year high last week as Americans took advantage of a drop in mortgage rates to their lowest since late 2016. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s purchase index climbed 5.3% in the week

United States: Fed Officials Subtly Shift Inflation Strategy Amid Policy Review “The Federal Reserve won’t wrap up a year-long review of its policy framework for months, but some officials are already shifting their approach to hitting the central bank’s inflation goal. The number of policy makers forecasting above-target inflation in three years’ time jumped to seven in

January 27, 2020 United States: U.S.-China Trade-Deal Targets May Be Too Ambitious “Purchase targets in the Beijing-Washington trade deal would boost U.S. exports of goods and services to China from roughly $160 billion in 2019 to $309 billion in 2021 -- a near-doubling of exports in two years, with the bulk of the increase reached in 2020. If these

January 24, 2020 United States: Even the Fed Struggles to Nail Down the Meaning of ‘Full Employment’ “The year 2019 was humbling for the Federal Reserve. The central bank was forced to unwind a series of interest-rate hikes it had implemented the year before, citing strains on the U.S. economy from President Donald Trump’s trade

January 23, 2020 United States: Democrats Warn Trump Can’t Be Above Law as Case Heads to Day Two “House impeachment managers launched their case for removing Donald Trump from office by depicting him as a president who is vindictive, untruthful, unbound by the law and above all, willing to abuse his power at the expense

January 22, 2020 United States: Trump Trial Rules Set After McConnell Fields Pushback From GOP “The Senate set the terms for Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, but not before Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the president got a reminder that a small group of GOP senators can determine how it will play out. The Senate voted