Protectionists’ Spin U.S. President Donald Trump is vilified for statements that his critics say are blatantly untrue, but he is not alone in trying to frame messages to his favor. This past weekend, China’s Ambassador to the U.S. Xie Feng said that "It goes without saying that [American] protectionism is rampant, casting a shadow over China-U.S. agricultural cooperation." Beijing was manipulating trade policy to its favor for many years while Washington was still preaching the free trade mantra. Like many other countries, China has openly sought self-sufficiency in agriculture, even telling farmers to use less soybean meal in their livestock rations to suppress imports. Panama has just declared rice as a national security crop...

TAGS – North America, Macroeconomics