Diabolical Plan USTR issued a blistering report regarding Russia’s increasingly protectionist trade policy. It accused Moscow of employing localization measures to favor domestic products, using measures that are not science-based to block agricultural imports, and violating national treatment obligations in the IT sector. USTR Katherine Tai’s diabolical plan for achieving redress of the practices includes: “USTR will continue to work with like-minded partners [some of whom are dependent on Russia for natural gas] and use the tools of the WTO [effectively defanged] to hold Russia accountable for its behavior in the multilateral trading system.” Vladimir Putin must be shaking in his boots. Meanwhile, the U.S. i...
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.