U.S. Trade Truths, Currency Tariffs, China Rethink: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) --

Welcome to Tuesday, Americas. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help you start the day:

• President Donald Trump heads to Capitol Hill tonight to deliver his annual State of the Union address. With trade likely to feature in his speech, Bloomberg’s Shawn Donnan highlights six trade truths to keep in mind
• The Trump administration is going ahead with controversial new rules that would clear the way for the U.S. to start applying punitive tariffs on goods from countries accused of having undervalued currencies
• France’s recent industrial history may have a lesson for governments balancing climate change and economic demands: carbon taxes can cut greenhouse emissions, and aren’t that bad for jobs either
• The productivity gap between regions of the U.K. is the widest in more than a century, underscoring the uphill battle facing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government. A “perfect storm” of three factors may be behind the country’s worst productivity slump in a quarter of a millennium
• Two sweeping goals have dictated the direction of China’s economic policy during President Xi Jinping’s presidency: Doubling per-person GDP and household incomes over the 10 years ending this December and containing an explosion in debt. Now, as the coronavirus shutters huge swaths of the economy, it looks like one of those goals has got to give
• Brent crude is down $10 per barrel so far this year. Bloomberg Economics estimates about $8 of the drop is due to weak demand, which for the most part is related to concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on activity in China. The remaining $2 decline is due to ample supply

To contact the reporter on this story: Zoe Schneeweiss in London at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Brian Swint

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