Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, Navigating the Bluster - Hardcover

LaRocco, Lori Ann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0997887141 ISBN 13: 9780997887143

Publisher: Marine Money, Inc., 2019

Synopsis

The multi-front trade war, which started with solar panels and washing machines, quickly expanded to additional battles: the 232 action on Aluminum and Steel imports, Intellectual Property, Autos, and Immigration. As a result, retaliatory tariffs were imposed and the flow of global trade the world once knew was changed. Headlines reporting the China tariffs "on hold," "truces announced" as well as threats of additional tariffs being imposed, continue to feed the uncertainty which would send the markets to historic highs and dramatic selloffs.

So how can one get a sense of the true status of trade and the good faith being pledged by countries like China?

Through the trade flows!

With ninety percent of the world's economy moved by maritime transport, the ocean highway is the best way for anyone to gauge the status of trade talks as well as monitor the flow of trade. Remember, the two phrases your mom said when you were a teen: "talk is cheap" and "actions speak louder than words?" Well, when it comes to the world of shipping, that is the action being taken. Best-selling author Lori Ann LaRocco takes readers inside the world of global trade and shows us: Containers and tankers don't lie.

Let's cut through the political rhetoric and see what the tea leaves of maritime are telling us, as well as the strategies some business leaders are employing to navigate the trade wars.

About this title

About the Author

Lori Ann LaRocco is senior editor of guests for CNBC business news. She coordinates high-profile interviews in business and politics, as well as special multimillion dollar on-location productions for all shows on the network. Her specialty is in politics, working with titans of industry. LaRocco is the author of Dynasties of the Sea, Part 2: The Untold Stories of the Postwar Shipping Pioneers (Marine Money, Inc., 2018), Opportunity Knocking (Agate Publishing, 2014), Dynasties of the Sea: The Shipowners and Financiers Who Expanded the Era of Free Trade (Marine Money, Inc., 2012), and Thriving in the New Economy: Lessons from Today's Top Business Minds (Wiley, 2010). LaRocco has been working at CNBC since 2000. Her track record has garnered trust and respect from Wall Street to Washington. By establishing relationships with some of the best in business, LaRocco has been the first to learn of business deals in the billions of dollars, enabling CNBC to break the news. Prior to joining CNBC, LaRocco was an anchor, reporter, and assignment editor in various local news markets around the country.

Review

"If you want to understand the nuts and bolts of President Trump's trade war--how we got here and its fallout on global trade, industry and the economy--then you must read this book. Lori Ann LaRocco is masterful at weaving together a clear picture of the trade war, which will become more important to all our livelihoods as it rages on." - Mark Zandi, Chief Economist, Moody's Analytics

"For those who still question that we are living a new trade era, this book is a must-read. Maritime data show an interesting effect of the way negotiations are publicly assessed nowadays and the impact of those assessments by exporters and importers. Data analysis of trade flows presented by Lori Ann LaRocco, complemented by qualitative assessment of economic agents through a series of interviews, present a clear picture of the impact of U.S.- China trade war, not only for those two countries, but for other U.S. trade partners and the entire system. The most immediate effect of this trade policy of the U.S. based on tariffs as a tool to rebalance trade flows with China is a change in global supply chains that will be difficult to revert even after a solution to the trade war is reached. The long term implications of this trade policy shift by the most powerful economy of the world are still to be seen and will be studied by generations of global studies students and policy makers  to come. In that task, this book will be a very useful reference." - Guillermo Malpica, former trade negotiator and former Head of the Mexican Trade and NAFTA Office in Washington, DC

"LaRocco's book shows you the underlying truth of this trade war. The export and import data shows the dramatic trends of how quickly tariffs have impacted the competitiveness of the United States. Import growth from U.S. competitors cannot be spun away with rhetoric. In the pursuit of 'fair trade,' the American farmer and other industries have been negatively impacted. The equilibrium of a free trade world has been thrown off. The 'benefit' of this multi-front trade war has yet to be realized. The indisputable proof based on the flow of trade only shows disruption." - Anthony Scaramucci, SkyBridge Capital Managing Partner

"Lori Ann has done an excellent job of using readily available data combined with personal interviews to lay out the real life effects of our current trade war and the structural changes that are underway as a result. I found the insights provided to be most helpful in pointing out many of the difficulties that lie ahead." - Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) Former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

"President Donald Trump trade policy is the most significant and risky presidential economic policy decision of the past half century. Lori Ann's book provides a real time account of the events and the real time consequences of the President Trump trade decisions to date. Her research is impeccable and her knowledge of trade routes and evaluation of container trade provides a guidepost that every policy maker should heed. This is a very important book for the future of the U.S. economy because it sounds an alarm about the trade war now before it is too late to take corrective action. Win or lose this trade war, what is happening today in trade will be analyzed and evaluated and criticized and praised for years. This book will be invaluable to that evaluation." - Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) former Banking and Agriculture Committee member"Lori Ann LaRocco has provided a first class analysis of current shipping patterns, and their implications for global trade. By doing so, she has given us a book that is a must-read for any student of global trade (and the global economy)." - David M. Rubenstein, The Carlyle Group Co-Founder, Co-Executive Chairman"Lori Ann LaRocco's prescient book is a clarion call, and makes a compelling, timely and well-documented case for how our trade flows, our joint production platforms and integrated supply chains, and the openness of our economies and dare I say our societies too, need to be defended, but also explained and articulated to a sceptic and, in some cases, angry public." - Arturo Sarukhan, (former Mexican Ambassador to the U.S., 2007-13)

Edition details

• Publisher: Marine Money, Inc.
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0997887141
• ISBN 13: 9780997887143
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 204