Eating Crow Few free traders in Washington believe that President Trump’s tariffs first approach to trade policy is a good idea. In fact, they have mountains of economic studies highlighting the downside risks from the approach. Thus, it was surprising when powerful Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a critic of Mr. Trump’s approach, cited the USMCA and China agreements in saying he and other skeptics “ate a bit of crow.” A trade agreement with India may be the next positive outcome from this White House using GSP to leverage better trading terms for the U.S. Still, at this juncture it is hard to say that on net the American economy is better off under this approach. Green...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.