In The News

A Tale of Two Middle Classes

Nayan Chanda December 20, 2016
Worry and anger permeate the middle classes of Asia and the Americas, and in a world that is tightly interconnected, individuals perceive cross-border competition. During the US presidential campaign, President-elect Trump suggested that “unfair trade deals” had hurt US workers and communities, and he promised to tighten immigration rules and curb abuses associated with the H1-B and other visas....

Russia Pivots to Asia

Taehwa Hong December 20, 2016
US President Barack Obama has emphasized that Russia is a weaker country than the United States. US military spending is 12 times more than Russia’s, and the Russian economy, under sanction for interventions in Ukraine, has been crowded out of the top 10 economies in recent years. Still, Russia confounds rivals and neighbors by regarding the globe as a chessboard, weighing priorities, using...

Can Trump – or Anyone – Bring Back US Manufacturing?

December 8, 2016
US voters and politicians worry about the loss of manufacturing and assembly jobs, which carry a wage premium over most service jobs. Yet numerous economists and other analysis express doubt that such jobs can quickly be restored in the United States. “The biggest reason Trump — or anyone else — can’t bring back jobs is because there is nowhere to bring them back from,” notes an article from...

Trade Week Africa and the Continental Free Trade Area

Amy Copley December 7, 2016
Africa is not rejecting trade agreements. All 54 countries on the continent are projected to be in the Continental Free Trade Area, or CFTA, which “is shaping up to be the largest free trade area in the world in terms of the population it covers,” notes Amy Copley for the Brookings Institution. The African Union and UN groups continue negotiations, and analysts suggest that CFTA could increase...

Seizing Opportunity in a Post-TPP World

Stephen S. Roach December 1, 2016
Trade is the glue for globalization and without it other connections can subside. But US voters rejected a US leadership role in global trade deals and elected billionaire Donald Trump who has already signaled intent to have the United States to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership with 11 other nations. Analysts suggest that China could step into the US role, but “The baton of global...

Promises Trump Can’t Keep

Nayan Chanda November 28, 2016
US President-elect Donald Trump made big promises on trade and jobs that will be tough to keep without wrecking key industries along with the global economy. Essentially, he suggested that he could restore US manufacturing jobs by blocking new trade deals like the Tans-Pacific Partnership and walking back on old deals like the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement. The plan has problems. Such trade...

League of Nationalists

November 25, 2016
Despite living in a world that shares numerous global challenges, voters increasingly place their trust in a new nationalism. Some are unnerved by lost jobs and blame an increasing number of foreign-born living in their midst. Others long for self-reliance. “All societies draw on nationalism of one sort or another to define relations between the state, the citizen and the outside world,” notes...