In The News

New York Times: Globalization’s Backlash Comes at Wrong Time

Neil Irwin March 28, 2018
US voters responded to promises of tariffs, jobs and protectionism during the 2016 presidential campaign and spurred a backlash to globalization: “It is coming after the major costs of globalization have already been borne,” explains Neil Irwin for the New York Times. “And it comes just as billions of people who have become integrated into the global economy over the last three decades are...

Bloomberg: Trump on Trade Wars – “Easy to Win”

Joe Deaux, Andrew Mayeda, Toluse Olorunnipa and Jeff Black March 2, 2018
US President Donald Trump roiled US and global stock markets, sparking fears of trade retaliation in one day, with a plan for adding tariffs on steel and aluminum that was postponed and scheduled for later announcement. The plan would add 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum for an indefinite period with no details on exempted countries. Steel and aluminum are an intricate part...

CNN: US Tariffs on Steel Would Hit China and Entire Global Trading System

Julia Horowitz February 19, 2018
The Trump administration, after complaining about China’s low prices for steel, has a deadline of April 11 for deciding on new steel tariffs. “However, China is not the top country from which the United States imports steel,” explains Julia Horowitz for CNN. “The United States imports most of its steel – 16% – from Canada. It imports 13% from Brazil, 10% from South Korea, 9% from Mexico and 9%...

The Wall Street Journal: China Is Winning the Global Race to Control Batteries

Scott Patterson and Russell Gold February 15, 2018
China listed electric vehicles as one of seven strategic priorities in 2011 and now dominates the markets for batteries from mining cobalt in Africa to production. More than half of the world’s cobalt is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a Wall Street Journal articles describes small-scale miners, often working in unsafe conditions, selling ore to Chinese buyers. “Those buyers then...

Caixin: US Approval Offers Shot in the Arm to China’s Traditional Medicine

Coco Feng February 2, 2018
Traditional medicines, once customized for each patient, are increasingly standardized and manufactured in large modern factories, for delivery around the globe. To expand markets, Chinese manufacturers are conducting clinical trials and putting their products under the review of the US Food and Drug Administration, considered among the world’s toughest regulators for drugs. “Although China...

China Dialogue: Processed Food Is a Global Health Crisis

Judy Bankman December 12, 2017
Processed food and Western diets that are high in fats, sugars and salt are not healthy and also contribute to poor agriculture methods and climate change. Farming methods could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help stem climate change, according to an agreement made during the UN COP23 summit on climate change in Bonn. “Dietary changes are taking place at ‘unprecedented speed,’ and people in...

Lace Capital Riven by French Politics: NYT

Liz Alderman May 1, 2017
Technology, changing fashions, competition in Asia combined with the European Union ending textile import quotes in 2005, eroded jobs in the lace industry, reports Liz Alderman for the New York Times. “From steel mills to auto factories, the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs to globalization has created social distress – and competing visions from the candidates about how to fix it,” Alderman...