Bipartisan Trade Policy Major legislation being passed on Capitol Hill this year often involves partisan votes, with Republicans in the opposition and saying no to bills produced by the Democratic majority. However, on trade policy there is plenty of agreement between the two political parties. Attitudes toward the WTO have been bipartisan for years and remain so. There are bipartisan concerns about China, joint disappointment with Europe, and shared opposition to digital services taxation targeting American companies. The view toward Trump trade policy may be mixed but there is shared political belief that tariffs create leverage and, when used appropriately, are a legitimate tool for achieving a fairer trading system. Where...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.