Fighting the Last War? China, Currency Manipulation & US Trade Deficits

The Economic Policy Institute recently issued very interesting trade policy paper by Rob Scott entitled " Setting the Record Straight: Unfair Trade Practices — Not High Wages — Have Hurt U.S. Manufacturing  (hereafter SRS).

The SRS paper provides useful insights regarding the trade policies and wages for China, Germany and the United States. One valuable contribution of the paper is its analysis of why Germany has a competitive advantage in manufactured exports despite  wages that are higher than in the U.S. (A future ABCD post will address this and other issues regarding exchange rates, capital flows, and the trade imbalance problems currently facing Europe.)

This post, however, focuses just on the issue of whether or not America should be blaming its trade deficit problems on currency manipulation by the Chinese rather than examining the problems being caused by America’s own international monetary policies – policies that are seriously out of line with the realities of the 21^st century.

This post concludes that blaming Chinese currency manipulation is like beating a dead horse from the last currency war. If America wants to restore the vibrancy and international competitiveness of its manufacturing sector, if it wants to put millions of people back to work in good jobs, it needs to shift its policy focus to two far more important tasks.

First, America needs to understand that the world is changing rapidly, that many facts from the past are only myths today. It needs to understand why profound changes in the way exchange rates are determined make 20^th century policies obsolete. Second, America needs to develop international monetary and trade policies that are relevant to the 21^st century realities of a highly financialized world.

Would a MAC Raise Interest Rates, Hurt Consumer Demand, and Slow the Economy?

Background

Largely because of an overvalued dollar, America has suffered a virtually unbroken string of trade deficits for nearly forty years. The dollar will return to an equilibrium rate that balances imports and exports only when an automatic link has been re-established between exchange rates and balanced trade in goods and services.

Starting in the 1970s, the link between the dollar’s value and the exchange rate needed to balance trade was gradually destroyed as global trade in capital assets overwhelmed global trade in real goods and services. Today, as the Wall Street Journal recently noted, “Currency values are largely determined by central banks and capital flows,”[1]   For example, enough foreign exchange is traded across America’s borders in half a day to finance our trade deficits for an entire year, and enough comes in during less than two weeks to finance all American imports and exports for an entire year. The remaining fifty weeks are dedicated, shall we say, to other purposes.

Because of this fundamental shift in the way exchange rates are determined, any connection between the market exchange rate established by financial account transactions and the exchange rate needed to balance America’s external trade is nothing more than a happy accident – one that has not happened for nearly forty years!

To help fix this growing problem, I have proposed a Market Access Charge (MAC) that would automatically moderate the flow of capital coming into the United States whenever flows reached the point that excessive foreign demand for dollars and dollar-based assets had pushed the dollar so high that America was running trade deficits of one percent of GDP or more.[2]

While agreeing that steps such as a MAC should be taken to restore America’s international competitiveness with a fairly valued dollar, some have expressed concern that reducing foreign capital inflows would tighten the domestic credit supply, causing interest rates to rise, and reducing consumer demand, especially for large-ticket items such as automobiles.

Based on historical data for the U.S. motor vehicle industry, this note demonstrates that the MAC is highly unlikely to hurt consumer demand and economic growth in this way. In fact, implementing the MAC would greatly increase both domestic and foreign demand for made-in-America automobiles and other goods.

The Dollar’s Value and America’s Share of its Own Automobile Market

Summary

America’s automobile manufacturing industry demonstrates the importance of maintaining a competitive value for the U.S. dollar. Using empirical data for the last 35 years, this note shows that, when foreign-made cars become significantly cheaper because the dollar’s value has risen, most consumers can and do purchase alternative foreign cars, and domestic producers lose market share.[i]

The future for America’s motor vehicle manufacturing industry – and for the domestic durable goods production in general – depends heavily on establishing and maintaining a competitive exchange rate for the U.S. dollar – something that America has not done for about forty years!

International Trade and Manufacturing Policies for the 21st Century

This post provides an abstract of a paper I was invited to present at the International Trade and Manufacturing Session of the National Workshop on U.S. Manufacturing and Public Policy at the University of Indiana on October 29, 2015. 

The full paper as presented can be accessed through the "Papers" link at the top of the home page of this blog site.

Comments are most welcome.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Abstract

American manufacturing has suffered a major decline in international competitiveness over the years since the first Oil Crisis in the 1970s. This decline is driving the offshoring of jobs and production lines to low-wage foreign countries and is central to America’s overarching economic problem today -- excessive trade deficits that have been accumulating for nearly forty years with no end in sight.

As a result, America now carries the largest stock of foreign debt in the world. Furthermore, manufacturing’s declining ability to compete with imports in domestic markets and with foreign producers in export markets has contributed to America’s high and rising unemployment and income inequality, as well as to financial market volatility and instability.

Although America’s trade deficits and its manufacturing decline relative to countries like China are closely linked, one does not really cause the other. Instead, both are the result of a serious overvaluation of the U.S. dollar.

The dollar’s overvaluation is driven largely by: (a) the failure of America’s international monetary policies to keep pace with dramatic changes in the global economy during the past forty years, and (b) the fact that, because the U.S. dollar is the world’s main reserve currency, America is more exposed than any other country to the impact of a tectonic shift in the way exchange rates are determined.

Following a brief summary of reasons that American manufacturing has lost its competitiveness and that trade deficits have become so large, the paper summarizes the pros and cons of the ways America could increase its international competitiveness and reduce its trade deficits. The paper finds that the key reason for declining competitiveness and rising deficits is the flood of foreign capital into America, starting in the 1970s, to take advantage of America’s financial markets. 

This has caused the dollar to become seriously overvalued because (a) the demand for dollars and dollar-based assets has pushed up the dollar’s market exchange rate; (b) excessive capital inflows have driven up domestic prices, making American goods more expensive and less competitive, and (c) the market exchange rate has not adjusted sufficiently to restore balanced trade and international competitiveness for American manufacturing.

Based on this analysis, the paper finds that the best way to restore competitiveness and reduce external deficits would be to moderate the inflow of foreign capital coming into U.S. markets so that the present glut of capital no longer distorts the American economy.

The paper then examines a new approach that appears to have the best pros

pects for success, namely a small “market access charge” (MAC) on capital inflows that would be paid by foreign investors who want to exploit America’s financial markets when these markets are already overheated and are causing the dollar’s overvaluation as indicated by a rising trade deficit relative to GDP.

After describing the legal and economic foundations for the MAC and how this simple mechanism would work in practice, the paper analyzes potential headwinds to the policy’s implementation and how likely issues can be resolved. It also examines the MACs expected benefits for stakeholders across the economy who will create tailwinds that should allow the MAC to become the core of a consensus-based manufacturing and trade policy for America for the 21^st century.

--------------
To access the full paper, click on the "Papers" link at the top of the home page and select
  "International Trade and Manufacturing Policies for the 21st Century: Yes, We Can Build a Consensus".

TPP: As Strong as its Missing Link – Fair Currency Values

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will not produce the benefits promised for America unless policies are in place that link currency values directly to balanced trade. In fact, the TPP is not even likely to become law unless America implements a mechanism that moves today’s overvalued dollar to an equilibrium level that balances U.S. imports and exports and keeps it there. Only then will Americans be able to earn as much producing exports as they spend on imports.