In The News

Freeing the Renminbi

Nayan Chanda April 30, 2010
Criticizing the value of another nation’s currency is easy. Understanding the consequences of any currency adjustments is more complicated, explains Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal and regular columnist for Businessworld in India. Economic advisors have undoubtedly explained the many challenges linked to currency revaluation awaiting political leaders in both China and the US, suggesting that...

Beijing Is Key to Creating More U.S. Jobs

C. Fred Bergsten April 22, 2010
By artificially setting the price of its currency, China is robbing the United States of jobs and building up an unprecedented trade surplus. Former Treasury official Bergsten says that currency manipulation is a form of protectionism and the US and global institutions need to respond because it is a problem that affects economies around the world. He calls for a three-pronged strategy: the US...

The World Needs Rebalancing, Not China Alone

Jeffrey E. Garten March 22, 2010
Washington’s uproar surrounding China’s handling of its currency risks becoming more than a trade spat, according to international trade expert Jeffrey E. Garten. If the US labels China a currency manipulator and imposes tariffs on Chinese goods, not only could this action wreck the recovery, as the world economy remains fragile, but it could also boil over into other realms of international...

China Uses Rules on Global Trade to Its Advantage

Keith Bradsher March 16, 2010
China seems to be pursuing a two-pronged strategy to exploit inconsistencies in global governance systems to benefit its economy at the expense of the rest of the world. On the one hand, China is filing an increasing number of cases with the WTO, despite the country's gigantic trade surplus. On the other hand, China is suppressing reports prepared by the IMF that charge it with keeping the...

A Greek Tragedy Haunts the World – Part II

Bruce Stokes March 3, 2010
The financial crisis in Greece is not only reverberating around Europe but is creating a difficult set of circumstances for the US, necessitating closer American involvement, according to journalist Bruce Stokes. The US has long supported European unity but the crisis is distracting Europeans from pressing concerns in Afghanistan and elsewhere, opening a new avenue for Russian meddling, and...

The Currency Albatross

Nayan Chanda March 1, 2010
Long-term political stability in China and the political future of the Obama administration both rest on resolving the economic crisis. But these goals may be at odds with one another as seen in the ongoing debate over China's currency, which is estimated to be under-valued by 25-40 percent. The legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party is in part predicated on economic prosperity, something...

New World Order Without a Hegemon: Compete and Cooperate

Dilip Hiro February 24, 2010
The US, China, EU, Russia, India, and Brazil are emerging as the key players whose relationships will define the future of global relations, according to author Dilip Hiro. While the era of unrivalled American supremacy is over, a new pattern of relations is emerging. Rather than being fixed alliances, however, these relationships are fluid combinations of “cooperation and competition.” The US...