100 Years Trade War The trade war between the U.S. and China may or may not be getting a temporary reprieve late this week but the transatlantic war is about to heat up. The EU is trying to develop with other countries an arbitration approach to replace the WTO Appellate Body (AB) now defunct due to the U.S. blocking new appointments. The approach is not without risk since it asks governments to voluntarily abide by potential trade case losses. It could be analogous to the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (ISTEX), also being developed by Brussels, to enable trade with Iran without incurring punishment by the U.S. via the dollar-based international payments system or loss of American-based assets. The ISTEX system may not ful...
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.