US retreats from free trade

Nippon Steel wants to acquire US Steel but the deal is encountering political headwinds. Sarah Baurele Danzman writing for the Atlantic Council says the deal is a test of friendshoring – and the US is failing. Alan Wm. Wolff of the Peterson Institute for International Economics asks whether the US government should be concerned about the acquisition. Richard Katz in Japan Economy Watch discusses hope for a deal between Nippon Steel and the United Steelworkers. Gavin Bade in Politico reports that Biden voices opposition to the deal.

Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives passed legislation to force the divestment of TikTok or ban it from US app stores. Eight experts debate whether TikTok’s time is finally up and the implications for US-China relations in Foreign Policy. Rana Foroohar in Financial Times declares shipbuilding as the next front in the US-China trade war.

Andrew Duehren in The Wall Street Journal sees the US retreating further from a free trade consensus with these developments.

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