The market is wagering that the U.S.-China trade war is escalated this Friday, and it may be right. China has pushed back against threats by President Trump that he will greatly increase tariffs that day if concessions are not made. Beijing would lose face if it were seen to be capitulating to his efforts at intimidation. President Trump has believed that the U.S. has more leverage in one-on-one negotiations with other countries, and he has sought to focus the benefits of such negotiations on Americans rather than sharing them with allied countries. His trade war with China may prove the opposite – that extracting reforms from Beijing would have been better leveraged had the effort been coordinated with Brussels and Tokyo. ...
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.