In The News

European Subsidies Stray From the Farm

Doreen Carvajal, Stephen Castle July 20, 2009
One of the biggest blots on free trade has been farm subsidies offered by the European Union. That they distorted trade was known, but this recent report shows the amazing extent of the distortion. European farm subsidies, once intended to help feed the population, are now doled out to some unlikely candidates, even the Queen of England. Originally used exclusively to promote production, such...

Asia Will Struggle to Escape Its Export Trap

David Pilling June 29, 2009
Despite much talk of a rising middle class that can support domestic growth, Asia’s dependence on exports has increased, not fallen. Although interregional trade has risen, most of it is in components, with the finished goods destined for the US and Europe. And in China, personal consumption as a percentage of GDP has actually shrunk. Indeed, as one expert argues, export economies are set up to...

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...

Losing $63 Billion in Diverted U.S. Goods Is Sleuth Obsession

Carol Wolf April 9, 2009
Old-fashioned arbitrage on an international level has a new name: “product diversion.” It means the same thing though: buying low in one market and selling higher in another. The difference is that many multinational corporations (MNC) are now employing investigators and litigators to identify and crack down on the practice. Some MNCs have gone so far as to end business relationships with...

A Global Retreat as Economies Dry Up

Anthony Faiola March 18, 2009
The countries and ports that benefited most from a rapid rise in global trade now feel the most pain from an economic slowdown. In an article for the Washington Post, Anthony Faiola emphasizes the speed of the economic reversal: Freighters and containers of unwanted goods wait in ports, and workers, including educated financiers and poor immigrants, return to home countries to rethink future...

Globalization Disrupted

Nayan Chanda March 17, 2009
Throughout history, global crises have disrupted trade, immigration and other activities that connect far corners of the world and promote wealth. Modern-day governments in wealthy, developed countries had assumed that their institutions, regulations, stockpiles and systems would secure against problems emerging elsewhere in the world. “The acceleration of transport and communication, and reduced...