In The News

Caixin: Survey Finds Data Don’t Show Full Picture of Overseas Real-Estate Spree

Pan Che August 24, 2017
China invests more in global real estate than other Asian countries, but data do not show how much Chinese money already moves about offshore, reports Pan Che for Caixin. The Chinese government imposed regulations on outward direct investments, including limits on “irrational” investments like sports clubs or entertainment, “to stem capital outflows and prevent the yuan from depreciating further...

CBC News: US Opens NAFTA Talks With Focus on Trade Balance and Deficit of Facts

Chris Hall August 18, 2017
In opening talks with representatives from Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, the US representative argued for a complete overhaul of the 23-year-old trade deal. “NAFTA has fundamentally failed many, many Americans,” insists Robert Lighthizer in an article by Chris Hall for CBC News. The United States has trade deficits with Canada and Mexico, but overall,...

Spiegel Online: “Made in Germany” Label Badly Damaged By Car Scandal

Susanne Amann, Sven Becker, Kristina Gnirke, Peter Müller, Michaela Schießl and Gerald Traufetter August 8, 2017
US researchers discovered that Volkswagen and other automakers were intentionally manipulating software to avoid high emissions readings during test conditions. German carmakers are an economic powerhouse – with 800,000 jobs and more than €450 billion in sales – and engineering staff managed to fool European and US regulators. A proposed solution is an inexpensive software update that won’t...

Global Finance: Trade Winds Shifting

Jonathan Gregson August 5, 2017
After years of stagnation, international trade growth is anticipated at 4 percent this year. “Many factors could explain what appears to be a secular decline in global trade: lower levels of business confidence and investment; demand cycles and their impact on commodity prices; the maturing of global value chains, which have in turn triggered structural changes in the composition of cross-border...

Associated Press: China’s Tech-Transfer Demands May Spark Pushback From US

August 2, 2017
China orchestrates special arrangements with foreign technology firm, requiring details on proprietary technology, blocking virtual private networks from devices in China, as well as applying strict search filters to discourage distribution of criticism of Chinese practices or information about the critics themselves. The Trump administration early on showed a willingness to overlook such...

WorldPost: These Days, All Roads Lead to Beijing

Peter Frankopan August 1, 2017
China’s President Xi Jinping has made developing good ties in Central Asia and beyond a foreign policy priority. He anticipates the Silk Road Economic Belt to enhance economic ties, communications and trade across three continents, explains Peter Frankopan for WorldPost in an essay that examines old and recent history. China, positioning itself as a leader, pumps billions into the Silk Road Fund...

Science: Cocaine Trafficking Is Destroying Central America’s Forests

Emiliano Rodríguez Mega July 12, 2017
Researchers at US universities are positing that that cocaine trafficking accounted for more than 900,000 acres of deforestation in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua from 2001 to 2013. The drug trade directs 90 percent of cocaine in the United States through Central America, and “traffickers in the region had to figure out a way to funnel their money into the legal economy,” notes Emiliano...