In The News

Soft Market for Cashmere Takes Toll in China

Keith Bradsher June 22, 2009
The global economic crisis is now starting to be felt in even remote countries like China’s Inner Mongolia and normally less cyclical professions like goat herding. Demand for cashmere sweaters knit in China and exported to the US and Europe is down 30 percent this summer, causing raw cashmere prices to fall 50 percent and forcing many Mongolian goat herders to sell their flock to make ends meet...

The Goodness of Globalisation

Lord Mandelson June 15, 2009
World Trade Week may have been based in the UK, but it was aimed at sending the world a very powerful message: protectionism is not the way out of the current global recession. As UK Secretary of State for Business Lord Mandelson points out, it was the dismantling of global trade barriers over the last 80 years that led to the past century’s unrivaled economic progress. And, although times are...

The End of the Globalization Debate?

Edward Gresser June 2, 2009
The Obama administration’s first four months suggest the team is pro-trade and anti-protectionist – all to the positive, according to Edward Gresser, director at the Progressive Policy Institute. But lurking in the background are protectionist measures being promoted by various interest groups with the support of a range of politicians. Such measures call for the re-opening of the debate on the...

Trade Wars Brewing In Economic Malaise

Anthony Faiola, Lori Montgomery May 15, 2009
In a new twist to protectionism, local governments in the US have reduced purchases of products from traditional partners like Canada due to “buy American” clauses in the federal government’s stimulus package. Unlike usual protectionist measures such as tariffs, quotas, or subsidies, buying from domestic suppliers is not open to litigation via the World Trade Organization. Yet it seems the...

Tainted Chinese Drywall Contaminating U.S. Homes

Charlotte Cuthbertson April 20, 2009
If the US housing market doesn’t have enough problems already, it now has an additional one from thousands of miles away. Drywall imported from China has been found to contain contaminants that can form corrosive sulfuric acid, creating a new worry for home-owners. Affected houses often smell like rotten eggs and home dwellers suffer a slew of health problems – from relatively benign runny noses...

Pipe Made in India Incenses Illinois Town

Louis Uchitelle April 16, 2009
A steel town whose factories are idled is not likely to welcome steel pipe from India in its backyard. And from the citizens’ initial reactions in an Illinois town, it’s not hard to see how a grassroots protectionist campaign could find strong support. But, as this article details, the issues are much more complex. First, the US has been importing 20 percent or more of its steel needs for the...

China Turns a Corner as Spending Takes Hold

Andrew Batson April 13, 2009
Recent data suggests that China’s economy may have bottomed: crude oil imports are up; steel mills are importing record amounts of iron ore; and the Shanghai Composite index is up over 32 percent year to date. It would appear Beijing’s stimulus program is having an effect. The fact that China remains partially a command economy has allowed the stimulus program to take effect more quickly...