In The News

Chinese Businessmen Learn Western Table Etiquette

Wieland Wagner July 26, 2005
As their economy grows and international trade increases, Chinese businessmen are facing a new challenge in an unlikely setting: dinner meetings. Western etiquette is a mystery to many of these rising business elites, accustomed to using cellphones during dinner and loudly slurping their noodles. Their rescuer is Andy Mannhart, a Swiss businessman who realized the demand for etiquette classes...

How Africans See the Initiative to Help the Continent

Bashir Goth July 8, 2005
As the G-8 discusses plans to cancel Africa's debt this week, most agree that the world's richest countries can and should aid the ailing continent. In fact, the group agreed to double aid to Africa by 2010. But in the excitement surrounding the G-8 summit, few have asked Africans how they feel about the plan. The answer, supplied by African journalist Bashir Goth, is surprisingly...

Farm Support's Deep Roots

June 24, 2005
As US sugar growers lobby against the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), EU budget talks are stalled, in part because of resistance to a proposed decrease in farm subsidies. Because of the political power of farmers in Europe and the US, however, world trade liberalization could continue to be held back by lingering agricultural subsidies. A new report reveals that little progress...

Nationalism Ignites EU Rebellion

Daniel Williams June 5, 2005
Last week's French and Dutch referendums on the EU constitution are believed to be popular expressions of unease over the pace and nature of European integration. While most Europeans have benefited from 50 years of developments that have brought about a common currency, convenient travel and easier trade, many citizens are anxious about future unification measures that threaten to impinge...

How to Jump-Start the WTO

Susan Ariel Aaronson May 26, 2005
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Organization. One of the tenets of the organization is to use trade as a means to achieve sustainable development for the world's emerging economies, but after several rounds of talks, the WTO seems stalled. As Susan Ariel Aaronson and Jamie Zimmerman write, there is yet hope for the organization and its goals. The key: Policymakers...

Third World Gets Help to Help Itself

Doreen Carvajal May 6, 2005
A late-1980s campaign to help small coffee growers has blossomed into a US$500 million industry. Fairtrade goods, from bananas to cotton, aim to appeal to Western consumers' consciences by supporting above-market compensation for third-world growers. Though the industry has indeed flourished in the past few years, as the International Hereald Tribune writes, "the business of...

Stalking Genetically Modified Corn

Wolfgang Reuter April 22, 2005
Last Friday, the European Union banned the import of US corn feed, heightening the drama in an already strained relationship. Persistent lobbying by American officials could not overcome the pervasive skepticism in Europe over the safety of genetically modified (GM) foods, especially those that carry the Bt10 gene. The import ban is expected to cost US$350 million in lost sales, not to mention...