Trade

Articles and information about trade.

NPR

Betting Big On Electric Vehicles, Biden Faces Fraught Decision On Ga. Battery Plant : NPR

The South Korean corporation SK Innovation has built a large battery factory about 70 miles northeast of Atlanta, in the city of Commerce, population 7,000. Another factory alongside it is under construction, and a third is in the works. All told, they are expected to represent 2 million square feet of manufacturing space.

Yet earlier this year, SK said its Georgia operation may shut down because of a ruling against the company by the U.S. International Trade Commission in a dispute with LG Chem, a competitor also based in South Korea.

NPR

China Slaps Sanctions On 28 Trump Administration Officials, Including Mike Pompeo : NPR

China imposed sanctions Wednesday on 28 former Trump administration officials, including outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

In a statement released just minutes after President Biden took office, China's foreign ministry said it had decided to sanction those "who have seriously violated China's sovereignty and who have been mainly responsible for such U.S. moves on China-related issues."

The list of names features former Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar; former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro; former national security adviser Robert O'Brien; Kelly Craft, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and Matthew Pottinger, who recently resigned as deputy national security adviser. ormer national security adviser John Bolton and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon were also included.

I bet AliExpress isn’t as popular these days in America.

I bet AliExpress isn’t as popular these days in America. 🌏

I did just see an ad about them in the email. I’m sure some people are still freaking out about Coronavirus but truth be told by the time their products get to America the pandemic will be over. Some of their products are a mixed bag but they are still a great place to source electronic components from even if you now have to pay tax on them.

The Plot to Steal the Color White From DuPont

The Plot to Steal the Color White From DuPont

There’s white, and then there’s the immaculate ultrawhite behind the French doors of a new GE Cafe Series refrigerator. There’s white, and then there’s the luminous-from-every-angle white hood of a 50th anniversary Ford Mustang GT. There’s white, and then there’s the how-white-my-shirts-can-be white that’s used to brighten myriad products, from the pages of new Bibles to the hulls of superyachts to the snowy filling inside Oreo cookies.

All this whiteness is the product of a compound known as titanium dioxide, or TiO2. A naturally occurring oxide, TiO2 is generally extracted from ilmenite ore and was first used as a pigment in the 19th century. In the 1940s chemists at DuPont refined the process until they hit on what’s widely considered a superior form of “titanium white,” which has been used in cosmetics and plastics and to whiten the chalked lines on tennis courts. DuPont has built its titanium dioxide into a $2.6 billion business, which it spun off as part of chemicals company Chemours, in Wilmington, Del., last fall.