From Russia, With Love (of Tariffs)
My wife didn’t think this blog post title made sense…since it’s really about how Russia doesn’t love tariffs and is willing to lower them to join the World Trade Organization. But you get the idea, plus it’s a James Bond reference (my second on this blog to date), so it’s …
Read MoreWhat I Learned on My Eastern Washington Trip
Remember back in grade school when, as soon as you came back in September, your teacher would assign you to write a paper about “what I learned on my summer vacation?” Well, I just got back from a three day trip to Eastern Washington to talk international trade, and I …
Read MoreWeekly TEOW: Washington Wine Goes to India!
Back in my days writing for the Prosperity Blog on Puget Sound economic development issues, I had a weekly featured called REDEW: the Random Economic Development Email of the Week. Whatever the most interesting economic development related email I received that week, I’d blog about it. Welcome to a similar …
Read MoreYou Down with TPP? (Yeah, You Know Me!)
Every industry has its set of confusing and obscure acronyms. In the world of economic development, we often talk about STEM degrees (science, technology, engineering and math), which are the key to job creation in Washington’s economy (especially now). In baseball, we’ve got BABIP and VORP: “batting average for balls …
Read MoreEverything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Affordable Footwear Act, But Were Afraid to Ask
As I write this series of blog posts on WCIT’s policy priorities, one of the nice things is being able to draw inspiration from current news. You don’t want to read State of Trade for obscure factoids…no, you want that same ripped-from-the-headlines feel that you get from watching an episode …
Read MoreWCIT Release on Congressional FTA Action
In general, I hate to use the blog as a mouthpiece for press releases and corporate communications (it really takes away from the trademark irreverent, conversational tone that State of Trade is so dedicated to), but I thought y’all might be interested in my official statement on yesterday’s progress. Here …
Read MoreWCIT Policy Alert: Momentum on Three Pending Free Trade Agreements
As they say, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Sure, one of my top priorities upon being hired as WCIT president was the pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. But, I figured that I’d need at least a week to get going before I …
Read More