$10 For A Gallon Of Gasoline In The United States?

Oil Will Be the Defining Issue for United States/China Relations For several years before Deng Xiaoping initiated China’s economic reforms in 1982, one of the few opportunities to experience The Peoples Republic of China was to climb a ridge in Hong Kong’s New Territories. As I made my way up the rocky slope I could feel the steady crescendo of my heart anxiously pounding at my rib cage.  Peering through the trees into the valley below I could see border sentries of the Peoples Army wearing drab olive green uniforms and caps with big red stars. Flapping in the wind was the Communist Chinese flag.  In the distance peasants dressed in baggy black pants and large straw hats toiled in neatly embanked rice paddies as water buffalo pulling their ploughs slogged through thick clay- like mud.... Read More

Free Trade Agreements Can Alleviate World Poverty

The River’s Edge Upon arriving in Jakarta for the first time nearly twenty-eight years ago, I hurriedly checked into one of the city’s most luxurious hotels and headed straight to the concierge to inquire where I could see a live performance of Gamelan. A puzzled attendant looked at me for a moment to ensure he heard correctly, then lit up with a contagious smile. He took out a Bahasa-Indonesia language newspaper and approvingly informed me that there was a performance that evening not far away. He warned me it was in a part of town not frequented by foreigners. His voice modulated to seriousness when he strongly suggested I take a hotel car and have the driver wait for me until the performance ended. This was not somewhere I should be strolling around alone. Gamelan is an Indonesian... Read More

Neal Asbury in The Miami Herald!

Now that he has been named the Small Business Association’s National Champion Exporter of the Year, Neal Asbury can also claim two other firsts. Not only is his company, Greenfield World Trade, the first in the state to win the prestigious award, it is also the first time a food service equipment company has been given the honor. ”It’s something that will distinguish our company for years to come,” said Asbury, 50. ”It’s not just selling the product but working passionately to try to improve America’s position internationally as a country, trying to educate our citizens how better to trade and export so we can start to deal with this trade deficit we have,” he said. Locally, he serves as chairman of the South Florida Chapter of the District... Read More

Talking About the True Meaning and Significance of Trade Agreements on The Rich Roffman Show

On my next appearance on The Rich Roffman Show I will be talking about the true meaning and significance of trade agreements: poverty, corruption, environmental concerns and labor laws (child labor laws as one example) and a better way of life for all involved. The question is:  “Why doesn’t this message get across to the average guy??” This could be a good discussion with “real time” answers and examples. Please feel free to ask your questions or share your comments below. Share this article:  Read More

Looking Back While Looking Ahead as a Successful Exporter

Receiving the SBA’s Champion Exporter of the Year for 2008, it seemed like a good time to relate how I entered into the arena of international business. I write this for our young people considering a career as an American exporter. One of the most important decisions I made in my fledgling career was to move into Manhattan immediately after graduating from Rowan State University in New Jersey in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  I got a cheap studio apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, and landed a job sorting mail for an export management company located on 5th Avenue and felt I was in heaven. As a child, I remember being mesmerized by the world map. I would stare at it for long periods of time trying to memorize the geography. I envisioned what it would be like to sit in these far away... Read More

Stuck in a 40-year Time Warp…Stop Looking to Milton Friedman

The next time you shop at Wal-Mart, here is something to ponder. Nobel Memorial Prize winner Milton Friedman published Capitalism and Freedom in 1962, written against the backdrop of unrivaled American industrial dominance as Western Europe and Japan rebuilt under the benevolence of the Marshall Plan. During this period, the American policy of absorbing the world’s exports while turning our back on our own industries was perfected under Friedman’s guidance. Friedman points out that “inconvertibility of currencies” is of authoritarian origin, “most probably invented by the Nazi regime.” The core financial policy practiced with religious zeal by Communist China today was invented by the Nazis. Yet freedom-loving, free-trade-proselytizing Americans continue... Read More

Ask Your Top U.S. Trade Policy Questions Here – I’ll Answer Them During My Weekly Radio Show Interview

Here’s where you can ask the gnawing questions you have regarding trade. Here’s where I tackle U.S. trade policy issues. Feel free to post a question of your own.  I will choose a question each week from this blog to further answer during my weekly radio show with Rich Roffman on his radio show on Fridays at 4:30 P.M. on WKAT-AM 1360. Finally, I also welcome you to subscribe to my blog so that you can be kept current on my regular comments on trade. Share this article:  Read More

Why Aren’t the Voice of Support for American Exporters Being Heard

If the middle class has yet to embrace and fight for our nation’s badly needed trade agreements that will provide scores of new jobs while giving up very little in return, part of the blame must go to trade supporters who have been unable to articulate their vision in a passionate and reassuring way. Most often the spokespeople debating for the free-trade agenda are seen as aloof and out of touch. They come from the boardrooms of Fortune 500 companies, Wall Street, and elitist Washington think tanks. Although their intensions are good, they have been easy targets to discredit by the media because of their ties to corporate motives. Small and medium-sized companies are the backbone of the American economy and have not been given a voice. They are responsible for over 70 percent of American... Read More

Failure to Ratify U.S. – Colombian-Free Trade Agreement

The latest battleground of America’s trade future is Colombia. At a time when we should be investing every ounce of our energy to tear down the barriers to American exports in China, Japan and India instead we are side tracked on the U.S.-Colombian Free Trade Agreement that should have quickly passed Congress with broad bipartisan support.  Any reasonable person in less than three minutes should understand why this is good for America. (Read what the White House says about Colombia Free Trade) Colombia has enjoyed preferential-trade access to the U.S. market for the past seventeen years as part of the Andean Trade Preferences Act, or ATPA. ATPA was created to provide farmers and workers alternatives to being swallowed up in the omnipresent narco-industry throughout the Andean region. ... Read More

It’s Time To Create the Department of Global Trade

Our command structure is a convoluted mess due to the split authority between the USTR (United States Trade Representative) and Department of Commerce. This split provides the USTR responsibility or “policy”, “coordination” and “negotiations” while providing the Secretary of Commerce “nonagricultural operational trade responsibility”. We must replace the USTR-Department of Commerce two-headed monster with a single Department of Global Trade. The Secretary of Commerce would become the Secretary of Global Trade, possessing real power over a portfolio that offers opportunities for important policy leadership. Unlike today, the Secretary of Commerce would have complete authority over all facets of trade including strategy, negotiations and enforcement. Share... Read More