In The News

Free Trade, Minus the Warmth and the Longing

Maria Golia March 28, 2006
Egyptian businessmen once anticipated the free-trade agreement (FTA) with the US as an opportunity to decentralize and privatize the economy. However, the Egyptian cabinet already embraces entrepreneurship and reform, and with FTA negotiations failing, the agreement increasingly seems redundant. This has resulted in high-level disagreements between the Egyptian and US governments, thus rendering...

High Stakes in US-South Korea Pact

Bruce Stokes March 24, 2006
In what is shaping up to be the most controversial trade deal since the signing of NAFTA in the early 1990s, the US is inching closer toward a free-trade agreement with South Korea. For US automakers and farmers, whose access to Korean consumers is currently limited by strict regulations and high tariffs, the deal offers an opportunity to profit from the tenth largest economy in the world. For...

Protectionism Threatens Emerging Engine of Growth

Fred Kempe March 24, 2006
Despite inflation, debt, energy prices and terrorism, global economic growth has flourished with the help of emerging markets. Consumers in developing nations like China are increasingly spending more, approaching the levels of US consumers, and contributing to keeping economies worldwide running smoothly. But protectionist forces in the US and EU could halt the new source of growth. Worried...

A Floundering WTO – Part II

Balakrishnan Rajagopal March 23, 2006
The goal for the Doha Round of WTO talks is to ease trade for developing nations and eliminate poverty. But the 150 members of the WTO have failed to reach agreements that would lower barriers for small and developing nations. In the second of this two-part series about the WTO, MIT professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal describes the world as more divided than ever before, with relatively successful...

Is Globalization Stealing EU Jobs?

March 23, 2006
Increasingly, Europe finds itself struggling to answer the question of how it can simultaneously endorse free trade and preserve traditional industries and the jobs associated with them. In an age of inexpensive Asian imports, outsourcing, and bids for corporate takeovers from foreign entities, Europe is understandably worried about the effects of globalization on its job base. Europe’s...

A Floundering WTO – Part I

Edward Gresser March 21, 2006
The long-term future of global trade hangs in balance as the World Trade Organization struggles to reach consensus on desperately needed reform. A two-part series analyzes the promise WTO once held and how the pursuit of narrow and immediate gain by the richer nations may threaten the future for all. In the first article, policy analyst Edward Gresser notes that trade agreements among nations...

Australia at the Crossroads of Globalization

Ben Arnoldy March 21, 2006
Foreign investment has allowed the Australian economy to flourish – slashing unemployment, doubling the country’s wealth and reducing national debt. Once an isolated and lonely market, Australia has leveraged trade to its advantage, with mining and other industries taking advantage of the fast-growing Chinese economy. Australia citizens remain content with globalization, largely because...