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“The Obama administration is crafting a proposal that could make it easier to export firearms and other weapons to certain countries in an effort to boost sales for U.S. companies, increase trade and improve national security, according to senior government officials,” Sari Horwitz of The Washington Post reported Wednesday. “The plan, which is part of President Obama’s overhaul of U.S. export rules, is being debated by several agencies and it could be months before a final rule is proposed, according to officials,” Horwitz writes, adding “At least two federal agencies — the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department...

...in 2012, after eighty years of the Ex-Im Bank successfully and happily obeying its charter, President Obama has directed the Ex-Im Bank to violate it wholesale. Instead of only loaning to good foreign risks, he wants them to loan to American companies (in competition with American banks). Instead of only making loans attached to, and collateralized by, American export shipments of physical goods, he wants them to make start-up loans, short-term finance loans, bridge loans, that have nothing to do with export shipments (though they might help the companies become exporters, in the same way that if you give me...

German Foreign Orders Plunge...Again by Robert Brusca January 6, 2012 German orders are losing momentum again and rapidly after a false signal of a pause in the unraveling as of October. Orders in October had surged by 5% (M-o-M) and a surge of that degree blunted a lot of downward momentum that had seemed to be in train as October posted a very powerful one-month gain. Yet, now, in the light of the 4.8% drop in November and the September drop of 4.6%, we are left instead with a legacy of extreme volatility and of clearly waning momentum in what...

In 2011, the United States could become a net exporter of petroleum products — gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels — for the first time in 62 years. Don’t confuse this with, “U.S. on track to become energy independent.� The fuels we export are at least partly dependent on the oil we import. The possibility for energy independence is there — but the administration’s policies will likely continue to conspire to hamstring domestic energy production.Nevertheless, this is still an important milestone, as The Wall Street Journal reports: So long as the U.S. remains the world’s biggest net importer of crude...

In the week ended September 16th, the US exported more refined products than it imported. Year-over-year, the US is now exporting 714,000 barrels/day more refined products than it is importing. The largest portion of these exports is diesel fuel. Combined with the wide price spread between US WTI crude and North Sea Brent, the demand for diesel fuel is propping up pump prices for gasoline in the US even as crude prices continue to fall. The situation we’re seeing in the energy markets now is similar to the situation almost exactly three years ago. According to the US Energy Information...

Radiation Detected in Used Vehicle for Exports near Tokyo Kawasaki, Kanagawa Pref., Oct. 25 (Jiji Press)--Radiation levels of up to 58.86 microsieverts per hour have been detected in a used vehicle stored in a port facility here for exports, local authorities said Tuesday. The vehicle was brought to the port facility in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, Monday after being auctioned in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. The vehicle is now kept by its owner. The vehicle measured between 6.034 and 58.86 microsieverts in radiation, Kawasaki city government officials said. The amount of radiation in the air around the...

The nation’s trade deficit held steady at $45.6 billion in August from the prior month, the Commerce Department said. The trade gap in July was revised up from the initial estimate of $44.8 billion. The deficit in August was close to the consensus of analysts surveyed by MarketWatch.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The trade deficit the United States runs with the rest of the world shrank in July, according to data released Thursday, as record exports helped offset the biggest trade gap with China in 10 months. The Commerce Department said the trade deficit narrowed to a seasonally adjusted $44.8 billion in July from $51.6 billion in June, a decline of 13.1% — the largest percentage decline since February 2009. Economists polled by MarketWatch had expected a $51 billion deficit.

Wracked by debt but blessed with abundant sunshine, Greece plans to develop some 20,000 hectares of solar power parks in a bid to export renewable energy to Germany, a report said on Saturday. Top-selling Ta Nea daily said the project, which has a tentative budget of 20 billion euros ($29 billion), could create 60,000 jobs at a time when Greece is battling a deep recession and record unemployment figures. Germany is looking for alternative energy sources after chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided to shut down all 17 of the country's nuclear reactors over 11 years, following the disaster at the...

8 Share Print Email “Did Fast & Furious violate the Arms Export Control Act?” attorney and author David T. Hardy asks on his Of Arms and the Law blog. He’s referring to the Arms Export Control Act that “authorizes the President to define defense articles and regulate their export.” There’s no exemption from the State Department permit requirement for “official use” since no one is admitting walked guns are part of approved U.S. foreign policy, so the bottom line seems to be: Any person who willfully violates these provisions "shall upon conviction be fined for each violation not more than...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. trade deficit jumped 15.1% in May to the highest level in almost three years, largely because of the increased cost of oil imports. The trade gap widened to a seasonally adjusted $50.2 billion from $43.6 billion in April, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. It was the biggest monthly deficit since October 2008. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch forecast the trade deficit to rise to $44.5 billion.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply in April as imports from Japan were curtailed due to the earthquake, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. The nation’s trade deficit narrowed 6.7% in April to $43.7 billion from a revised $46.8 billion in March, the Commerce Department said.

2011/05/25 09:29 KST S. Korean exports to debt-ridden European nations plunge SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's exports to southern European countries have plunged this year as demand has slowed due to the region's debt crisis, the customs office said Wednesday. South Korea's exports to Portugal nearly halved to US$490.5 million during the first four months of this year, down from $882.9 million a year earlier, according to data offered by the Korea Customs Service (KCS). Exports to Greece fell 15.8 percent to $304.2 million, while those to Italy started to contract in April after three months of growth,...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. trade deficit widened sharply in March to the highest level in nine months despite a new record high for exports of goods and services, government data showed Wednesday. The trade deficit — that is, the difference between exports and imports — widened to $48.2 billion for the month from a downwardly revised $45.4 billion in February, originally reported as $45.8 billion. Imports of goods and services rose by 4.9% to a seasonally adjusted $220.8 billion during March, while exports rose 4.6% to $172.7 billion, the Commerce Department estimated. This was the biggest one-month jump in...

The biggest single user of Cook Inlet natural gas is shutting down, raising fresh concern about the future of Southcentral Alaska's main energy supply. Due to deteriorating market conditions, the Nikiski liquefied natural gas plant will no longer export gas to Japan starting this spring, its owners announced Wednesday.

Russia and China have agreed to resolve the issue of the illegal production of Russian arms in China, a deputy head of Russian arms exporter Rosoboronexport said on Tuesday. "We have made progress in an understanding of this problem. Moreover, all the documents concerning the protection of intellectual property have been signed," Alexander Mikheyev said following the opening ceremony of the Airshow China 2010 exhibition in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai. "China does not refuse to discuss these issues, which are primarily a concern for Russia," he said, adding that Rosoboronexport will hold talks on the issue with Chinese...

China trade: The 'Dalai Lama Effect' By Jo Ling Kent, CNN STORY HIGHLIGHTS * Study: Countries that meet with the Dalai Lama lose 8.1 percent in exports to China * Effect lasts for two years following the meeting with the exiled spiritual leader * The "Dalai Lama Effect" began in 2002 when President Hu Jintao took office * Only impacts trade if meetings are between a head of state and the Dalai Lama Beijing, China (CNN) -- Countries whose top leadership meet with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, lose on average 8.1 percent in exports to China in...

AUGUST 5, 2010 China's Riddle: Corn Deals Analysts puzzle over meaning behind surge in imports despite policy of self-sufficiency By BRIAN SPEGELE And SCOTT KILMAN China's first big purchases of U.S. corn in more than a decade have triggered a debate over whether exports of America's biggest crop are entering a new golden era. But the one party that could potentially settle the question—China's government—is hardly talking. Excitement was sparked in June when a ship loaded with U.S. corn arrived at the port of Longkou on China's eastern coast—the first ship fully loaded with U.S. corn to dock in China...

Russia, once the largest importer of U.S. chicken, has agreed to lift a five-month-old ban on the meat after talks between presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev. U.S. exports of chicken to Russia plunged 84 percent in the four months ended April 30 from a year earlier. The price of U.S. wholesale chicken legs, a major export to Russia, fell 27 percent in the past year. We will have to comply with the same requirements that are being used for Russian poultry producers,” said Sumner, whose Stone Mountain, Georgia-based trade group represents 90 percent of U.S. poultry and egg exporters....

NOTE The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-obama-and-president-medvedev-russia-us-russia-business-summit Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 24, 2010 Remarks by President Obama and President Medvedev of Russia at the U.S.-Russia Business Summit U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 3:08 P.M. EDT PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, good afternoon, everybody. It is a pleasure to be here with my friend and partner, President Medvedev, and I want to thank him again for his leadership, especially his vision for an innovative Russia that’s modernizing its economy, including deeper economic ties between our...

BIROBIDZHAN, Russia — The Kimkan open pit mine in Siberia is a muddy square mile surrounded by birch and cedar forests so vast they seem to stretch to the ends of the earth. As with many places in Siberia, it is nearly impossible to drive here. Yet just under the surface, Russian geologists say, lies enough iron ore to build hundreds of millions of cars. That is why Chinese government officials and business executives are interested, despite a decades-old legacy of bilateral distrust along this stretch of Russia-China borderland. This year, a delegation from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of...

BERLIN, June 7 (Reuters) - German industrial orders jumped far more than expected in April, with suggestions of a rise in investment adding to signs Europe's largest economy is on the path to durable growth. Demand for intermediate and capital goods pushed orders up 2.8 percent on the month, the Economy Ministry said. The gain beat the mid-range forecast in a Reuters poll of 39 economists for a 0.2-percent rise. ECONDE Analysts said the European debt crisis had weighed on orders from the euro zone, which were down one percent, but a weaker euro was likely to bolster demand from...

I've been trying for weeks to EXPORT or SYNCRONIZE all my Outlook 2007 data from one Vista computer to another. Not just contacts, but EVERYTHING, including, calendar, to do list, settings, fonts, and signatures. Help! I'm just about brain dead trying to do this... it shouldn't be so complicated! Rick

The trouble with China's economic bubble By David Ignatius Thursday, March 11, 2010; A21 The bubbly enthusiasm that many analysts express about the Chinese economy reminds me of the old-time variety show host Lawrence Welk, who banished worries each week with soothing sounds from his Champagne Music Makers. China watchers should turn off the music and listen to Premier Wen Jiabao, who has been surprisingly frank in warning that overinvestment and lack of domestic demand are producing an economic bubble in his country. "The biggest problem with China's economy is that the growth is unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable," Wen...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-export-import-banks-annual-conference Home • Briefing Room • Speeches & Remarks The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 11, 2010 Remarks by the President at the Export-Import Bank's Annual Conference Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C. 11:30 A.M. EST THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. And thank you, John, for that generous introduction. Congratulations to you and Fabienne and Luis for the recognition your companies so richly deserve. And thank you to the Chairman of the Export-Import Bank, Fred Hochberg, for having me here today, and for all the important work the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama sought Thursday to put some detail behind his lofty drive to double U.S. exports over the next five years, calling the effort imperative to putting people back to work. But doubts remain about how many net jobs his trade agenda will create—and how he will get it done. In a speech to the Export-Import Bank conference, Obama outlined steps to flesh out his trade initiative. Among them: creating a mini-Cabinet of officials to focus on exports, seeking more financing to support trade efforts, beefing up enforcement of existing trade deals and pushing for the...

March 10, 2010 Chinese exports surge in reaction to bank policy Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent Chinese trade surged last month following the country’s rise in bank lending, leading economists to predict a strong increase in exports over the course of 2010. Exports grew by 45.7 per cent in February compared to the same month in 2009 despite the lunar new year holiday, which shut down the country for several days last month. Although global fund managers have been encouraged by some brokers to think of Chinese consumption as an attractive investment, more bearish observers believe that it will be...

Korea's Top 5 Industries Face Oversupply Crisis Korea's major industries are at the great risk of being hit by oversupply problems in the global market. If automobiles, steel, petrochemicals, ships and semiconductors end up sinking due to a worldwide glut, the Korean economy is expected to face the greatest shock since the Asian financial crisis. According to an internal Ministry of Strategy and Finance document obtained by the Chosun Ilbo on Sunday, the global automobile industry faced a 56.7 percent oversupply last year, while the steel industry was hit with a 37.7 percent glut. The oversupply ratio refers to the...

Andy Xie: China Better Open Up Its Economy Fast, Else An Obama Trade War Will Crush It Vincent Fernando | Feb. 10, 2010, 5:12 AM | 531 | comment 4 Andy Xie issues a stark warning for China in a latest Caing opinion piece. Essentially, America's major hope for recovery and job growth right now lies in growing its exports since the Fed can't slash rates much lower, and American government is completely grid-locked by politics (thus can't do much for the domestic economy). Thus he expects an increasingly aggressive stance from the Obama administration on U.S. - China trade....

China sees rocky export rebound, shrinking surplus October 31, 2009 1:17 AM ET All Thomson Reuters news BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's exports face a "hard and tortuous" path to recovery as uncertainties dog the global economy's gradual return to health, with this year's trade surplus set to shrink from last year's record, the Commerce Ministry said. Commerce Minister Chen Deming told a conference on Saturday that China's trade surplus was expected to fall to $180 billion to $190 billion this year from last year's record $295.5 billion. The surplus was $136.4 billion in the first nine months of the year....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Senate panel urged the Air Force on Thursday to start developing an export model of its F-22 Raptor, the most advanced U.S. fighter jet, even as it voted to end U.S. purchases. Japan, Israel and Australia have shown interest in buying the supersonic, radar-evading F-22 Raptor, designed to destroy enemy air defenses in the first days of any conflict and clear the way for other missions.

China's rise as the world largest exporter, though significant, does not mean Chinese exports will be of as high a quality as Germany's goods, experts said. The Chinese government should seriously consider ways to improve the quality of goods for export and create more value-added products to strengthen its competitiveness, they said. For the first time, China took the lead as the world's export champion, surpassing Germany by a minimal amount in the first half of the year. A report released yesterday by the World Trade Organization (WTO) shows that from January to June, China exported goods worth $521.7 billion....

Fall in exports hits German hopes of recovery By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt Published: June 9 2009 12:09 | Last updated: June 10 2009 01:25 Germany’s hopes of economic recovery have been set back by unexpectedly sharp falls in exports and industrial production that underline the fragility of Europe’s largest economy. German exports in April were 4.8 per cent lower than in March, and 28.7 per cent down on a year earlier, official figures show – the steepest annual fall since records began in 1950, although officials said that April 2008 had been exceptionally buoyant.

Distant Holy Grail: China's Consumers Tina Wang, 05.13.09, 1:34 AM ET HONG KONG -- China is showing steady improvement in domestic consumption, as global and domestic companies set their sights and hopes on the world's most populous market. But bolstering the power of its consumers to full potential poses a long-term challenge for China and requires a structural rebalancing of economic growth. China's retail sales continue to grow robustly, in line with market expectations and the year's first-quarter pace. Retail sales for April climbed 14.8% from the same time last year, to 934.3 billion yuan ($137.0 billion), according to the...

China exports fall 22.6% in April China's exports fell 22.6 per cent in April from a year earlier, while imports fell 23 per cent, the official Xinhua news agency said today, quoting the General Administration of Customs. The resulting trade surplus for the month was $12.9 billion, compared with $18.56 billion in March and $4.84 billion in February, according to calculations based on the cumulative January-April surplus of $75.43 billion cited by Xinhua.

IMF sees 'long, severe recession' for Asia by Bernice Han Wed May 6, 2:42 am ET SINGAPORE (AFP) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday sharply slashed its growth outlook for Asia, predicting a "long and severe recession" for the region's wealthier but export-reliant economies. The US-based institution said it now expected growth in Asia, including Japan, would slow to 1.3 percent this year after an initial forecast, made in the last quarter of 2008, of 2.7 percent growth. "The spillovers from the global crisis have impacted Asia with unexpected speed and force," the IMF said in its regional...

More Than $1 billion In Private-Sector Weapons Exports Approved For Mexico Since 2004 Mainstream media and Beltway pundits and politicians in recent months have unleashed a wave of panic in the nation linking the escalading violence in Mexico, and its projected spread into the U.S., to illegal weapons smuggling. The smokescreen being spread by these official mouthpieces of manufactured consensus is that a host of criminal operators are engaging in straw (or fraudulent) gun purchases, making clandestine purchases at U.S. gun shows or otherwise assembling small caches of weapons here in the states in order to smuggle them south of...

Korean Launch Could Spur Arms Sales By EVAN RAMSTAD SEOUL -- The long-range missile North Korea is expected to test as soon as Saturday could reach as far as the U.S. and parts of Western Europe. But U.S. military officials and other analysts say the development is most dangerous not because North Korea is likely to use such missiles, but because it will probably sell them to other countries, such as Iran. A successful launch of a long-range missile, after two failures, would validate three decades of investment and work by North Korea. It could also boost one of the...

Japan’s exports nearly halve By Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo Published: March 25 2009 03:15 | Last updated: March 25 2009 06:02 Japan suffered another record drop in exports last month while imports also fell much more than expected, highlighting the damaging impact of the global downturn on the world’s second largest economy. Exports nearly halved in February, falling 49.4 per cent from a year earlier, as demand for Japanese goods plunged in key markets. The decline in exports was the steepest since 1957 and worse than most economists had anticipated. However, imports also fell much more than expected, dropping 43...

Chinese Exports Sharply Lower in February By TERENCE POON and J.R. WU BEIJING -- China's exports and imports fell for the fourth straight month in February, with the drop in exports sharper than expected, leading to a dramatic narrowing in China's much-watched trade surplus. February's exports fell 25.7% from a year earlier to $64.9 billion and imports dropped 24.1% to $60.1 billion, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. In January, exports fell 17.5%, while imports fell 43.1%. China's trade surplus in February totaled $4.84 billion, the lowest monthly surplus in three years and a sharp drop from US$39.1...

Japan’s January exports down 45% year on year TOKYO, Feb 25 - Japan’s exports nearly halved in January from a year earlier, pushing its trade deficit to the biggest on record, in further evidence that the global financial crisis is paralysing the world’s second-largest economy. Exports to Asia slumped at a record pace as manufacturing within Asia, which had thrived on robust global growth until last year, slumped as Western consumers curtail their spending. ”Exports to Asia, particularly to China, are tumbling at about the same pace as shipments to the United States, signalling that even China’s economy may be...

The Obama administration backed off Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s statement last week that China is “manipulating” its currency. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden said the administration has made “no judgment” on whether the Chinese have manipulated their currency, an accusation that would have international legal ramifications. “The policy of this administration is going to be to say to China, which occasionally the last administration was reluctant to do. `You're a major player on the world scene economically, and you've got to play by the rules that

Japan Caught in the Pop of Its Manufacturing, Export Bubble By YUKA HAYASHI TOKYO -- Japan has largely escaped the housing bubble and huge credit losses that are weighing on the U.S. and Europe. Then why is Japan's economy shrinking faster? Economists and corporate executives are realizing that the nation suffers from the bursting of another type of bubble -- one in manufacturing. Between 2002 and 2007, Japan's manufacturing sector boomed, driven by soaring demand for Japanese automobiles and electronic gadgets by consumers globally, including Americans feeling flush amid rising home prices. Fueling the gains was a weak yen that...

This really doesn’t look good

Will Asia’s downturn be worse than America’s? Posted by Edward Harrison on 21 December 2008 Published in economy Below is an article that has been syndicated on a number of sites in the Indian press (hat tip Ravin) which challenges the common wisdom that Asia, and particularly China, will weather the downturn better than the U.S. While the articles conclusions are contentious, its analysis bears noting, making those conclusions an outcome to not dismiss. Yves Smith of naked capitalism recently coined the phrase Alpha Creditor to denote the country with the highest net exports and largest current account surplus. In...

China’s economy hits the wall By Gideon Rachman Published: December 15 2008 18:50 | Last updated: December 15 2008 18:50 There was a distinct whiff of triumphalism in Beijing in the weeks after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Chinese officials speculated aloud about whether it would be wise to lend the Americans the money they needed to bail out their sinking banks. There was tut-tutting about American profligacy. The famous prediction by Goldman Sachs that the Chinese economy would be larger than that of the US by 2027 was revisited – perhaps it would happen even sooner than that? But...

China cuts interest rates again as growth cools The People's Bank of China cut its main interest rate again today without any warning or explanation. By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai Last Updated: 12:54PM GMT 29 Oct 2008 It was the third time that the Chinese central bank has cut rates in the past two months. It informed banks that the key one-year lending rate will fall to 6.66pc from 6.93pc, effective from Thursday. The country's policy makers were the first to act after the collapse of Lehman Brothers helped deepen the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. China slashed its...

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 22 CFR Parts 122 and 129 [Public Notice 6246] RIN 1400-AC50 Amendment to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations: Registration Fee Change AGENCY: Department of State. ACTION: Proposed rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The Department of State is proposing to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) by increasing the registration fees, changing the registration renewal period, and making other minor administrative changes. DATES: Effective Date: The Department of State will accept comments on this proposed rule until August 27, 2008. ADDRESSES: Interested parties may submit comments within 30 days of the date of publication by any of...

China's Export Machine Threatened by Rising Costs Orders Drop, Shops Idle in Sweater City; Losing Wal-Mart By JAMES T. AREDDY June 30, 2008; Page A1 HONGHE, China -- As a sign over its main boulevard proclaims, Honghe is "China's Famous Town for Sweaters." But the economy of sweater town is unraveling, providing an early sign that China's manufacturing sector may be entering middle age. WSJ's James Areddy details the decline of a sweater-making town in China that's suffering due to falling demand from a key market: the U.S. (June 30) Over the past two decades, this city about 90 minutes'...

This is one of the most frightening things I've learned in a long time. Over in the US, a bill has passed the House of Representatives and is heading to Congress – with a huge amount of support. The PRO-IP bill, H.R.4279, significantly increases the state's power to detect and prosecute IP infringement, carrying with it a whole host of new law enforcement positions and capabilities. It establishes an IP Czar, someone with the job of overseeing zealous action on behalf of copyright and trademark owners, and includes such powers as the ability to seize equipment if it contains just...