The path for tax reform put forward by House Speaker Paul Ryan and fellow House Republicans would appear — at least at first blush — to offer a clear answer: taxing imports but not exports, in a reversal of current policy that imposes corporate income taxes on exporters but not overseas producers with goods bound for the U.S.

Proponents go so far as to suggest that this is a neat way for Trump to shift the tide of trade without provoking a trade war by slapping punitive tariffs on goods from China and Mexico.

While the economic impact of the proposal is much more complicated, the immediate fate of the House GOP tax reform may rest on what Trump's working-class supporters find more alarming: anti-competitive U.S. tax policy or higher prices at Wal-Mart (WMT).

The National Retail Federation has begun sounding the alarm about the House GOP plan released in June, when a clean sweep in the election for Republicans seemed like a distant long shot.

Here's why retailers are girding for a fight: While cutting the statutory corporate tax rate to 20% from 35%, the House plan would no longer allow businesses to deduct the cost of imports from taxes. That means retailers such as Wal-Mart, Amazon (AMZN), Costco (COST), Dollar Tree(DLTR) and Starbucks (SBUX) would have to pay a tax equal to 20% of the cost of the clothing, televisions, toys and coffee they import.

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In Amazon Web Services, Amazon.com Inc. has built one of the most powerful computing networks in the world, on pace to post more than $12 billion in revenue this year.

But the retail giant on Wednesday proposed a surprising way to move data from large corporate customers’ data centers to its public cloud-computing operation: by truck.

Networks can move massive amounts of data only so fast. Trucks, it turns out, can move it faster.

China Faces Severe Coal Transport Capacity Shortage

The nation's freight rail operator says it needs 100,000 more cars to meet strong demand for power during cold winter months

China is suffering from a major shortage of trains to transport coal, a situation that follows a pause in construction of new rail cars and the scrapping of many old ones due to oversupply and weak demand over the past three years.

Beijing has embarked on a campaign to eliminate excess capacity in a number of industrial sectors, with coal and iron both set for sharp reductions. Much of the excess was built to feed China's hungry economy during years of breakneck growth, when annual expansion routinely reached 10% or more.

But a new phase of slower growth, sluggish demand and trade barriers overseas have prompted Beijing to reduce capacity in a bid to shore up sagging prices. Coal prices have jumped sharply as a result of those reductions, compounded by strong demand for electricity during the cold winter months.

As a result of those factors, the country now faces a shortage of about 100,000 rail cars for coal transportation, according Guo Yuhua, a senior official at China Railway, operator of the country's passenger and freight rail systems. He said that with a few exceptions, freight capacity is now being completely utilized on most of China's rail lines, creating a transportation crisis.

To address the shortage, China Railway has deployed 20,000 flatbed rail cars, and another 20,000 open cars, Guo said.

China Railway shipped 170 million tons of coal in October, up 6.6% from a year earlier. Beijing has set a reference shipping price of 15.51 fen (2.25 U.S. cents) per ton of coal, and the operator can charge up to 10% more than that rate based on demand.

The Bohai-Rim Steam-Coal Price Index, which measures domestic thermal coal prices, has risen more than 60% from the beginning of the year after the government ordered mines to cut production to trim overcapacity and fight pollution. This has led to a coal shortage heading into winter when demand typically peaks.

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