HEADLINES
On the EU side: The EU launched a safeguard investigation  into steel products to prevent trade diversion into the EU.
On the US side: The United States and South Korea have reportedly made significant progress in the renegotiation of KORUS, as they agreed on the main amendments and modifications to be made. The two countries have also agreed to a new currency pact that will bar either country from devaluing their currency for an unfair trade advantage. However, just yesterday the US President stated he might delay signing the agreement until after his meeting Kim Jong Un later in April.
The US in turn launched a new case with the WTO against China. Continuing along the line of US tariffs, Canada is working on solving its problem of cheap steel and aluminium smuggling into the North American market, in an attempt to earn a permanent exemption from Trump’s tariffs.
Coming up: The eighth Summit of the Americas meeting will be taking place April 13-14. The highly anticipated IMF and World Bank Spring meetings, April 20-22, are fast approaching.

SPOTLIGHT
Who Gets Hurt in a Trade War? Mostly Not China. 
By Marie Kasperek 

In an article published on MarketWatch, Marie Kasperek, Associate Director at the Atlantic Council’s Global Business and Economics program, notes that “a global trade war is not out of the question anymore. President Donald J. Trump has set the first domino in motion, and it will be hard to stop.” Kasperek emphasizes the agitated situation, claiming that “while some of the United States’ closest trading allies (Mexico, Canada, the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and South Korea) are temporarily excluded from the tariffs on steel and aluminum, their relations with Washington have been strained and will remain tense.” Read her complete analysis here.

Director of the Global Business and Economics program Bart Oosterveld was quoted in Handelsblatt, including his analysis that the EU exemptions were inevitable and further cooperation could be expected eventually. 

TRADE
Press Release: Trade Defense: Commission Launches Safeguard Investigation into Steel Products to Prevent Trade Diversion into the EU, European Commission
Press Release: Joint Statement by the United States Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer and Republic of Korea Minister for Trade Hyun Chong Kim, Office of the United States Trade Representative
Video: USTR Lighthizer on U.S. Trade Deal with South Korea, President Trump’s Tariffs and China, and an Update on NAFTA, CNBC
Opinion: New US Trade Deal with South Korea: What You Need to Know, Patrick Gillespie, CNN 
News: Trump Threatens to ‘Hold Up’ Trade Deal with S. Korea as Leverage in N. Korea Talks, Megan Cassella, Politico
Analysis: America’s Trade Strategy Has Many Risks and Few Upsides, The Economist
Opinion: Trump’s Early Trade Gains Could Come At Future Costs, David Lynch, Washington Post
Opinion: These Trade Jabs Don’t Mean War. Yet., Tyler Cowen, Bloomberg
News: Commission Opens the Door to Solve US Tariff Dispute, Jorge Valero, Euractiv
Opinion: The U.S. and EU Can Make Transatlantic Trade Great Again, Anders Fogh, Rasmussen
News: UPDATE 3-U.S. Will Take New Look at TPP After Other Trade Priorities -Mnuchin, Reuters 
Opinion:NAFTA Is Bigger Risk to Mexican Peso Than Election: Survey, Justin Villamil, and Will Mathis, Bloomberg
News: Back From the Brink: Hope Grows for NAFTA’s Survival, Patrick Gillespie, CNN Money
Opinion: A New TTIP Is the Way to Ease the EU-U.S. Trade Conflict, Simon Lester, The National Interest
Graphic: Key Findings- The Transatlantic Economy, American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union
News: China Steps Up Effort to Avert US Trade War, Tom Mitchell and Sam Fleming, Financial Times
News: TPP on Table for UK After Brexit, Trade Chief Fox says, Shigeru Seno, Nikkei Asian Review
Analysis: Trade Talk Tips for Brexit Britain, Alan Beattie, Financial Times
News: Brexit: UK Hopes to Roll Over 40 EU Trade Deals, Says Liam Fox, BBC
Analysis: Pan-African Trade Bloc Faces Lengthy Obstacle Course, Steve Johnson, Financial Times
Analysis: What’s at Stake in Tariff War: WTO’s Future, Daniel Michaels, Emre Peker, The Wall Street Journal

TWEET/FACTOID OF THE WEEK

GLOBALIZATION
Analysis: What’s Next for the WTO?, James McBride, CFR
Analysis: Overcoming Zero-Sum Games to Sustain Growth and Globalisation, Antonio de Lecea, VoxEU
Analysis: Changing the Laws that Keep Women Out of Work, Kristalina Georgieva, Financial Times
Analysis: Four Reasons for Optimism in These Dark Days for Globalisation, Shawn Donnan, Financial Times
Opinion: Why the Liberal World Order Will Survive, John Ikenberry, Carnegie Council
Analysis: The Workplace of the Future, The Economist
Opinion: Stranger in Strange Lands, Adam Hochschild, Foreign Affairs
Opinion: The World is Not Flat, Martin Sandbu, Financial Times

WHAT WE ARE READING
Report: U.S. Commerce and Europe: A Country-by-Country Comparison, in The Transatlantic Economy 2018, Daniel S. Hamilton, and Joseph P. Quinlan, CTR
Infographic: Constellations of State Fragility, German Development Institute
Analysis: A New Deal for the Twenty-First Century, Edward Alden and Robert E. Litan, CFR
Report: Clean Power is Shaking Up the Global Geopolitics of Energy, The Economist
Opinion: We Need an Economics of Belonging, Martin Sandbu, Financial Times
Analysis: EU Grapples With Trump Problem as US Relations Turn Sour, Alex Barker, Jim Brunsden, and Shawn Donnan, Financial Times

UPCOMING EVENTS
April 3: Blended Finance and Aligning Private Investment with Global Development – Report Launch, CSIS
April 9: Italy’s Threat to the Euro, AEI
​​​​April 10:  The Work Ahead: Machines, Skills, and U.S. Leadership in the Twenty-First Century, CFR
April 24: An Update on the Transatlantic Relationship, European American Chamber of Commerce

 Applications are NOW LIVE for @ACFutureEurope’s Atlanticist Fellowship! Apply by May 1, 2018 for the chance to be a resident fellow at @AtlanticCouncil this year! For more information, CLICK HERE  #AtlanticistFellowship

Your Newsletter Team:
Marie Kasperek, Associate Director, Global Business & Economics, Atlantic Council
Alexatrini Tsiknia, Intern, Global Business & Economics, Atlantic Council 
Zachary Coles, Intern, Global Business & Economics, Atlantic Council

Please send us suggested news stories, opinion pieces, publications, and upcoming events that you would like us to highlight! Email mkasperek@AtlanticCouncil.org with your ideas and suggestions.

The views expressed in this newsletter and linked external articles and content do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its sponsors.

© 2018 Atlantic Council

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